On May 19, Dr. Xu Chong, a postdoctoral researcher from the Innovation Team of Improvement and Amelioration of Soil Fertility at the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, published a groundbreaking research as a co-first author in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Collaborating with researchers from 42 institutions across 10 countries, including the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina and Utrecht University in the Netherlands,, the study explores how grassland ecosystem productivity responds to drought, nutrient addition, and their interactions.

Utilizing data from the NPK-Drought Network (https://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/npkd/index.php?lang=en), the research systematically evaluated the effects of drought, nutrient addition, and their interactions on grassland productivity across 26 sites in nine countries worldwide.

The study found that the impact of drought and nutrient addition on grassland productivity varies across ecosystems, primarily influenced by environmental conditions, particularly drought severity. Specifically, nutrient addition significantly alleviates drought effects in arid grasslands, while its benefits are less pronounced in humid regions or areas with high soil nitrogen content. In regions with high precipitation variability, grassland productivity shows a weaker response to both nutrients and drought. Furthermore, grasslands with high species diversity experience more pronounced productivity increases with nutrient addition, but also greater declines under drought conditions (see figure).

This research highlights the importance of local environmental factors—such as drought severity, soil nitrogen content, and precipitation variability—and biodiversity in predicting grassland ecosystem responses to climate change and human activities like nutrient addition. It provides crucial theoretical insights for future climate change adaptation and ecosystem management strategies.

Figure: Impact of Drought and Nutrient Addition on Grassland Productivity

The study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2022YFE0128000, 2022YFF1300603), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32171592, 32061123005), and the National Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Dryland and Semiarid Farmland in Northern China. It also received support from various national ecological monitoring stations, including the Inner Mongolia Horqin Grassland National Ecosystem Station, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Botany-Xilingol Grassland National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station, and others.

For more information, please visit the article link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02705-8