Department of Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
New Phytol. 2024 Dec;244(6):2156-2162. doi: 10.1111/nph.20182. Epub 2024 Oct 6.
A long-standing debate looks at whether air or soil dryness is more limiting to vegetation water use and productivity. The answer has large implications for future ecosystem functioning, as atmospheric dryness is predicted to increase globally while changes in soil moisture are predicted to be far more variable. Here, I review the complexities that contribute to this debate, including the strong coupling between atmospheric and soil dryness, and the widespread heterogeneity in vegetation hydraulic traits, acclimations, and adaptations to water stress. I discuss solutions to improve understanding and modeling of vegetation sensitivity to dryness, including how different types of observational data can be used together to gain insight into vegetation response to water stress across spatial and temporal scales.
长期以来，人们一直在争论是空气干燥还是土壤干燥对植被的水分利用和生产力限制更大。这个问题对于未来的生态系统功能具有重大意义，因为预计全球大气干燥度会增加，而土壤湿度的变化预计会更加多变。在这里，我回顾了促成这场争论的复杂性，包括大气和土壤干燥之间的紧密耦合，以及植被水力特性、适应和对水分胁迫的适应在广泛的变异性。我讨论了改善对植被对干燥敏感性的理解和建模的解决方案，包括如何结合使用不同类型的观测数据，以深入了解植被在时空尺度上对水分胁迫的反应。
