Geology ReportsSearch

USGS · 70239148

Grazing and ecosystem service delivery in global drylands

Fernando T. Maestre·Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet·Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo·David J. Eldridge·Hugo Saiz·Miguel Berdugo·Beatriz Gozalo·Victoria Ochoa·Emilio Guirado·Miguel García-Gómez·Enrique Valencia·Juan J. Gaitan·Sergio Asensio·Betty J. Mendoza·Cesar Plaza·Paloma Diaz-Martinez·Ana Rey·Hang-Wei Hu·Ji-Zheng He·Jun-Tao Wang·Anika Lehmann·Matthias C. Rillig·Simone Cesarz·Nico Eisenhauer·Jaime Martinez-Valderrama·Eduardo Moreno-Jimenez·Osvaldo E. Sala·Mehdi Abedi·Negar Ahmadian·Concepcion L. Alados·Valeria Aramayo·Fateh Amghar·Tulio Arredondo·Rodrigo J. Ahumada·Khadijeh Bahalkeh·Farah Ben Salem·Niels Blaum·Bazartseren Boldgiv·Matthew A. Bowker·Donaldo Bran·Chongfeng Bu·Rafaella Canessa·Andrea P. Castillo-Monroy·Helena Castro·Ignacio Castro·Patricio Castro-Quezada·Roukaya Chibani·Abel A. Conceição·Courtney M. Currier·Anthony Darrouzet-Nardi·Balazs Deak·David A. Donoso·Andrew J. Dougill·Jorge Duran·Batdelger Erdenetsetseg·Carlos I. Espinosa·Alex Fajardo·Mohammad Farzam·Daniela Ferrante·Anke S. K. Frank·Lauchlan H. Fraser·Laureano A. Gherardi·Aaron C. Greenville·Carlos A. Guerra·Elizabeth Gusmán-Montalvan·Rosa M. Hernández-Hernández·Norbert Holzel·Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald·Frederic M. Hughes·Oswaldo Jadan-Maza·Florian Jeltsch·Anke Jentsch·Kudzai F. Kaseke·Melanie Kobel·Jessica E. Koopman·Cintia V. Leder·Anja Linstadter·Peter C. le Roux·Xinkai Li·Pierre Liancourt·Jushan Liu·Michelle A. Louw·Gillian Maggs-Kolling·Thulani P. Makhalanyane·Oumarou Malam Issa·Antonio J. Manzaneda·Eugene Marais·Juan P. Mora·Gerardo Moreno·Seth M. Munson·Alice Nunes·Gabriel Oliva·Gastón R. Oñatibia·Guadalupe Peter·Marco O. D. Pivari·Yolanda Pueyo·R. Emiliano Quiroga·Soroor Rahmanian·Sasha C. Reed·Pedro J. Rey

Abstract

Grazing represents the most extensive use of land worldwide. Yet its impacts on ecosystem services remain uncertain because pervasive interactions between grazing pressure, climate, soil properties, and biodiversity may occur but have never been addressed simultaneously. Using a standardized survey at 98 sites across six continents, we show that interactions between grazing pressure, climate, soil, and biodiversity are critical to explain the delivery of fundamental ecosystem services across drylands worldwide. Increasing grazing pressure reduced ecosystem service delivery in warmer and species-poor drylands, whereas positive effects of grazing were observed in colder and species-rich areas. Considering interactions between grazing and local abiotic and biotic factors is key for understanding the fate of dryland ecosystems under climate change and increasing human pressure.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Fernando T. Maestre, Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, David J. Eldridge, Hugo Saiz, Miguel Berdugo, Beatriz Gozalo, Victoria Ochoa, Emilio Guirado, Miguel García-Gómez, Enrique Valencia, Juan J. Gaitan, Sergio Asensio, Betty J. Mendoza, Cesar Plaza, Paloma Diaz-Martinez, Ana Rey, Hang-Wei Hu, Ji-Zheng He, Jun-Tao Wang, Anika Lehmann, Matthias C. Rillig, Simone Cesarz, Nico Eisenhauer, Jaime Martinez-Valderrama, Eduardo Moreno-Jimenez, Osvaldo E. Sala, Mehdi Abedi, Negar Ahmadian, Concepcion L. Alados, Valeria Aramayo, Fateh Amghar, Tulio Arredondo, Rodrigo J. Ahumada, Khadijeh Bahalkeh, Farah Ben Salem, Niels Blaum, Bazartseren Boldgiv, Matthew A. Bowker, Donaldo Bran, Chongfeng Bu, Rafaella Canessa, Andrea P. Castillo-Monroy, Helena Castro, Ignacio Castro, Patricio Castro-Quezada, Roukaya Chibani, Abel A. Conceição, Courtney M. Currier, Anthony Darrouzet-Nardi, Balazs Deak, David A. Donoso, Andrew J. Dougill, Jorge Duran, Batdelger Erdenetsetseg, Carlos I. Espinosa, Alex Fajardo, Mohammad Farzam, Daniela Ferrante, Anke S. K. Frank, Lauchlan H. Fraser, Laureano A. Gherardi, Aaron C. Greenville, Carlos A. Guerra, Elizabeth Gusmán-Montalvan, Rosa M. Hernández-Hernández, Norbert Holzel, Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Frederic M. Hughes, Oswaldo Jadan-Maza, Florian Jeltsch, Anke Jentsch, Kudzai F. Kaseke, Melanie Kobel, Jessica E. Koopman, Cintia V. Leder, Anja Linstadter, Peter C. le Roux, Xinkai Li, Pierre Liancourt, Jushan Liu, Michelle A. Louw, Gillian Maggs-Kolling, Thulani P. Makhalanyane, Oumarou Malam Issa, Antonio J. Manzaneda, Eugene Marais, Juan P. Mora, Gerardo Moreno, Seth M. Munson, Alice Nunes, Gabriel Oliva, Gastón R. Oñatibia, Guadalupe Peter, Marco O. D. Pivari, Yolanda Pueyo, R. Emiliano Quiroga, Soroor Rahmanian, Sasha C. Reed, Pedro J. Rey. 2022. Grazing and ecosystem service delivery in global drylands. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq4062

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

Forest canopy decline under elevated CO2 during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Uncertainty remains regarding the impact of rapid anthropogenic warming on forest ecosystem structure, biodiversity, and function. As an analog, we reconstruct forest canopy density and compositional change in Wyoming, USA, through the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), an interval of abrupt carbon increase and warming ~56 million years ago. We develop a proxy to quantify leaf area index and assess shifts in floral composition using palynomorphs. Forest canopies opened abruptly at onset of PETM warming, landscape erosion increased, and vegetation shifted from broad-leaved angiosperm to fern- and palm-dominated ecosystems. When combined with regional data, these patterns suggest that continental-scale changes in plant communities cause landscape destabilization. These shifts also have implications for multimillennial-scale hydrologic and carbon cycle feedbacks in the climate system.

Wyoming

Predictable seismic cycles result from structural rupture barriers on oceanic transform faults

Earthquakes of magnitude ( M ) >5.5 on oceanic transform faults (OTFs) repeatedly rupture the same locked patches, sometimes quasiperiodically. These patches are separated by “barriers” that halt earthquake propagation and slip mostly aseismically. However, the physical processes governing this systematic behavior remain unclear. We analyzed two barriers along the Gofar transform fault that have arrested ~15 M 6 earthquakes over the past three decades. Ocean bottom seismometer data indicate that the barriers hosted intense microseismicity before the mainshocks and comprise multistrand faults and transtensional stepovers with 100- to 400-m lateral offset. These characteristics contradict earthquake rupture termination models invoking velocity-strengthening friction or large geometric steps and instead point to damage-enhanced porosity and dilatancy-strengthening mechanisms. By isolating rupture segments, the barriers regulate the quasiperiodic recurrence of OTF earthquakes.

Science

A 481 m-high landslide-tsunami in a cruise ship-frequented Alaska fjord

Early in the morning of 10 August 2025, a >64 × 10 6 –cubic meter landslide struck Tracy Arm fjord in Alaska. The landslide was preconditioned by glacial retreat caused by climate change. The resulting 481-meter runup megatsunami followed an initial 100-meter-high breaking wave traveling at >70 meters per second. The landslide was preceded by several days of microseismicity, which increased in rate and magnitude until ~1 hour before failure. The landslide produced globally observed long-period seismic waves equivalent in size to a moment magnitude 5.4 earthquake. A long-period (~66 second) global seismic signal, produced by a landslide-induced seiche trapped within the fjord, persisted for up to 36 hours, the second time a days-long seiche had thus been observed. With fjord regions increasingly visited by cruise ships, and climate change making similar events more likely, this unanticipated, near-miss event highlights the growing risk from landslides and tsunamis in coastal environments.

Alaska