Impacts of extreme weather events on terrestrial carbon and nitrogen cycling: A global meta-analysis
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Updated: Aug 15, 2025

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Published on: June 30, 2020
Qing Qu1, Hongwei Xu2, Zemin Ai3
1State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, 712100, China; Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, 712100, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Abstract:
Some weather events like drought, increased precipitation, and warming exert substantial impact on the terrestrial C and N cycling. However, it remains largely unclear about the effect of extreme weather events (extreme drought, heavy rainfall, extreme heat, and extreme cold) on terrestrial C and N cycling. This study aims to analyze the responses of pools and fluxes of C and N in plants, soil, and microbes to extreme weather events by conducting a global meta-analysis of 656 pairwise observations. Results showed that extreme weather events (extreme drought, heavy rainfall, and extreme heat) decreased plant biomass and C flux, and extreme drought and heavy rainfall decreased the plant N pool and soil N flux. These results suggest that extreme weather events weaken the C and N cycling process in terrestrial ecosystems. However, this study did not determine the impact of extreme cold on ecosystem C and N cycling. Additional field experiments are needed to reveal the effects of extreme cold on global C and N cycling patterns.
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