Congratulations to Laureano Gherardi on his recently published paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences! Check out his paper on the effects of precipitation variability on grass- and shrub-productivity. Most studies on climate change impact focus on the effects of changes in the amount of precipitation in a system, overlooking the effects of interannual variability in precipitation. This 6-year study presents results of manipulated precipitation variability in the field (Fig. 1 below). Interannual precipitation variability was altered between treatments while overall precipitation amount was kept constant. Perennial grass productivity decreased by 81% whereas shrub productivity increased by 67%. This work addresses an understudied dimension of climate change that suggests widespread shrub encroachment under drought conditions, thus reducing the provision of ecosystem services by perennial grasses in these semi-arid systems.
