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Human pressure and biodiversity modify forest resilience after extreme multi-year droughts
Tianjing Wu1, Yanxu Liu2, Liangzhi Chen3
1State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Disaster Risk Reduction, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Nature Ecology & Evolution
|March 4, 2026
Summary
Global forest resilience significantly declined after multi-year droughts (MYD). Species richness and human pressures were key factors, highlighting the need to mitigate human impact for forest recovery from extreme climate events.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Climate Science
- Forestry
Background:
- Forest resilience, the ability to recover from disturbances, is crucial for ecosystem stability.
- Increasing multi-year droughts (MYD) and human pressures threaten global forest ecosystems.
- The interaction between extreme droughts and anthropogenic impacts on forest resilience remains poorly understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To map global forest resilience patterns before and after multi-year droughts (MYD).
- To investigate the drivers of spatial variation in forest resilience.
- To assess the influence of human pressures on forest resilience to extreme droughts.
Main Methods:
- Utilized kernel-normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) temporal autocorrelation to assess forest resilience.
- Analyzed spatial patterns of resilience across global forests.
- Quantified the impact of environmental factors and human footprint on resilience.
Main Results:
- Over 70.9% of global forests exhibited reduced resilience following major multi-year droughts (MYD).
- Species richness was the primary driver of resilience variation, followed by vapor pressure deficit, temperature, and soil moisture.
- Human footprint consistently and negatively impacted forest resilience, with managed forests showing lower resilience than undisturbed ones.
Conclusions:
- Mitigating human pressure is essential for maintaining forest resilience against extreme climatic disturbances like MYD.
- Forest management strategies should consider the combined effects of drought and anthropogenic impacts.
- Understanding species richness interactions is key to predicting forest responses to climate change.
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