Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Responses to Drought and Flooding02:41

Responses to Drought and Flooding

10.9K
Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.
10.9K
Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss01:57

Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss

26.2K
Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.
26.2K
Responses to Salt Stress02:02

Responses to Salt Stress

13.3K
Salt stress—which can be triggered by high salt concentrations in a plant’s environment—can significantly affect plant growth and crop production by influencing photosynthesis and the absorption of water and nutrients.
13.3K
Regulation of Transpiration by Stomata02:04

Regulation of Transpiration by Stomata

28.9K
During photosynthesis, plants acquire the necessary carbon dioxide and release the produced oxygen back into the atmosphere. Openings in the epidermis of plant leaves is the site of this exchange of gasses. A single opening is called a stoma—derived from the Greek word for “mouth.” Stomata open and close in response to a variety of environmental cues.
28.9K
Responses to Heat and Cold Stress02:45

Responses to Heat and Cold Stress

13.8K
Every organism has an optimum temperature range within which healthy growth and physiological functioning can occur. At the ends of this range, there will be a minimum and maximum temperature that interrupt biological processes.
13.8K
Tonicity in Plants00:53

Tonicity in Plants

54.4K
Tonicity describes the capacity of a cell to lose or gain water. It depends on the quantity of solute that does not penetrate the membrane. Tonicity delimits the magnitude and direction of osmosis and results in three possible scenarios that alter the volume of a cell: hypertonicity, hypotonicity, and isotonicity. Due to differences in structure and physiology, tonicity of plant cells is different from that of animal cells in some scenarios.
54.4K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Synergistic effects of warming and elevated CO<sub>2</sub> intensify drought impacts on grassland carbon and water fluxes.

Science advances·2026
Same author

Impacts of Precipitation Variability on Carbon Flux Dynamics of Global Semi-Arid Savannas.

Global change biology·2026
Same author

Leveraging remote sensing and crowd-sourced biodiversity data for enhanced plant functional trait mapping.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Non-Abrupt Vegetation Changes due to Altered Nutrient Balance Make Complex Scale-Dependent Warming and Cooling Effects.

Global change biology·2026
Same author

Hydroclimate shapes photosynthetic sensitivity to cloud cover across global terrestrial ecosystems.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Regional Emergence of Water-Related Browning in a Greening World.

Global change biology·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 5, 2025

Manufacturing Simple and Inexpensive Soil Surface Temperature and Gravimetric Water Content Sensors
08:49

Manufacturing Simple and Inexpensive Soil Surface Temperature and Gravimetric Water Content Sensors

Published on: December 21, 2019

9.6K

Widespread increasing vegetation sensitivity to soil moisture.

Wantong Li1, Mirco Migliavacca2,3, Matthias Forkel4

  • 1Department of Biogeochemical Integration, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany. wantong@bgc-jena.mpg.de.

Nature Communications
|July 8, 2022
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Vegetation is becoming more sensitive to soil moisture globally, especially in dry regions. This increasing sensitivity, not captured by models, suggests greater ecosystem vulnerability to drought and amplified climate change.

More Related Videos

In Situ Soil Moisture Sensors in Undisturbed Soils
08:20

In Situ Soil Moisture Sensors in Undisturbed Soils

Published on: November 18, 2022

6.5K
Author Spotlight: Unraveling Plant Responses to Abiotic Stresses Using the PlantScreen Robotic Platform
06:28

Author Spotlight: Unraveling Plant Responses to Abiotic Stresses Using the PlantScreen Robotic Platform

Published on: June 7, 2024

2.0K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Sep 5, 2025

Manufacturing Simple and Inexpensive Soil Surface Temperature and Gravimetric Water Content Sensors
08:49

Manufacturing Simple and Inexpensive Soil Surface Temperature and Gravimetric Water Content Sensors

Published on: December 21, 2019

9.6K
In Situ Soil Moisture Sensors in Undisturbed Soils
08:20

In Situ Soil Moisture Sensors in Undisturbed Soils

Published on: November 18, 2022

6.5K
Author Spotlight: Unraveling Plant Responses to Abiotic Stresses Using the PlantScreen Robotic Platform
06:28

Author Spotlight: Unraveling Plant Responses to Abiotic Stresses Using the PlantScreen Robotic Platform

Published on: June 7, 2024

2.0K

Area of Science:

  • Earth System Science
  • Ecology
  • Climate Science

Background:

  • Global vegetation and ecosystem services rely on soil moisture, which has declined in many areas over the past 30 years.
  • While spatial vegetation sensitivity to soil water is known, long-term changes remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess global vegetation sensitivity to soil moisture changes from 1982 to 2017.
  • To identify regions with significant trends in vegetation's response to soil water availability.

Main Methods:

  • Applied explainable machine learning techniques.
  • Utilized observation-based leaf area index (LAI) and hydro-climate anomaly data for analysis.

Main Results:

  • Vegetation leaf area index (LAI) sensitivity to soil moisture has significantly increased in many arid and semi-arid regions.
  • Increasing sensitivity trends correlate with hydro-climate and ecological factors, particularly in water-limited areas with decreasing precipitation.
  • Current land surface models fail to accurately represent these increasing sensitivity trends and water-sensitive regions.

Conclusions:

  • Ecosystems face heightened vulnerability to water availability due to increasing vegetation sensitivity.
  • Future intensified droughts may lead to greater reductions in vegetation carbon uptake, potentially amplifying climate change.
  • Improved modeling of vegetation-soil moisture interactions is crucial for accurate climate change impact assessments.