New paper published in Science today showing that droughts in a warmer, CO2 rich world have strong impacts on ecosystem hydrology
The study reports findings from the ClimGrasHydro experiment in Austria that was led by the University of Innsbruck with collaborations from the PPE group at Uni Basel and other research institutions in Austria and Germany. The main finding of the study is that the hydrological connectivity in the soil pore system is strongly disrupted by recurring droughts occurring in a warmer climate with elevated CO2. Soil water is generally assumed to be well mixed following rainfall, but our results show that this mixing will be severely limited after repeated droughts in a future climate. This has significant implications for water utilisation by plants. This indicates that the interactions between soil and plants are much more complex than previously assumed, which has significant implications for the ability of ecosystems to resist and recover from periods of drought. The results of the study once again emphasize the need to develop strategies strengthening the resilience of ecosystems to climate change and to advance global climate protection efforts.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado0734
https://www.uibk.ac.at/de/newsroom/2025/gestresster-boden-wie-durre-grasland-verandert/