A multidimensional assessment of global ecosystem resilience to increasing droughts

More frequent and severe droughts increasingly threaten the structural and functional stability of terrestrial ecosystems, yet ecosystem resilience remains poorly understood from a multidimensional perspective. To address this gap, we evaluated global ecosystem resilience to drought using gross primary production (GPP) responses to the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) within a resistance-recovery-adaptation framework. Our findings revealed a predominantly increasing trend in ecosystem resistance to drought across 52% of land grid cells, alongside a decline in recovery capacity across 67% of grid cells. Higher resistance was mainly found in hyper-arid and arid regions, whereas recovery capacity generally increased from semi-arid to humid regions. Using an optimal drought timescale identification method, we detected a prolonged ecosystem response to drought, which may be consistent with gradual vegetation adaptation. Pre-drought vegetation levels were most strongly associated with resistance, while recovery was most strongly associated with drought intensity. Notably, plant physiological traits, particularly foliar nitrogen concentration per unit dry mass (Nm), showed stronger associations with adaptation than climatic or environmental factors. This study provides a novel integrated multidimensional framework for quantifying ecosystem resilience, thereby improving our capacity to predict and manage ecosystem responses under intensifying drought stress.