Green water—terrestrial precipitation, evaporation and soil moisture—is fundamental to
Earth system dynamics and is now extensively perturbed by human pressures at continental …

Abstract China has 6.6 million km2 of drylands that support approximately 580 million
people. These drylands are at risk of desertification. In this Review, the changes observed in …

Climate change and human activities increasingly threaten lakes that store 87% of Earth's
liquid surface fresh water. Yet, recent trends and drivers of lake volume change remain …

Grazing represents the most extensive use of land worldwide. Yet its impacts on ecosystem
services remain uncertain because pervasive interactions between grazing pressure …

Global vegetation and associated ecosystem services critically depend on soil moisture
availability which has decreased in many regions during the last three decades. While …

Chapter 2, building on prior assessments, provides a global assessment of the observed
impacts and projected risks of climate change to terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems …

Relationships between biodiversity and multiple ecosystem functions (that is, ecosystem
multifunctionality) are context-dependent. Both plant and soil microbial diversity have been …

Drylands are an essential component of the Earth System and are among the most
vulnerable to climate change. In this Review, we synthesize observational and modelling …

Degradation of ecosystems can occur when certain ecological thresholds are passed below
which ecosystem responses remain within 'safe ecological limits'. Ecosystems such as …

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of droughts. These
events, which can cause significant perturbations of terrestrial ecosystems and potentially …