Sensitivity of tropical woodland savannas to El Niño droughts

Abstract. The 2015–2016 El Niño event led to one of the hottest and most intense droughts for many tropical forests, profoundly impacting forest productivity. However, we know little about how this event affected the Cerrado, the largest savanna in South America. Here, we report on 5 years of productivity of the dominant vegetation types in the Cerrado, namely savanna (cerrado) and transitional forest–savanna (cerradão), continuously tracked before, during, and after the El Niño. Between 2014 and 2019, we carried out intensive monitoring of the productivity of key vegetation components (stems, leaves, roots). Cerradão productivity declined strongly by 29 % during the El Niño event. The most impacted component was stem productivity, which was reduced by 58 %. By contrast, cerrado productivity varied little over the years, and while the most affected component was fine roots, declining by 38 % during the event, fine-root productivity recovered soon after the El Niño. The two vegetation types also showed contrasting patterns in terms of the allocation of productivity to canopy, wood, and fine-root production. Our findings demonstrate that the cerradão can show low resistance and resilience to climatic disturbances due to the slow recovery of productivity. This suggests that the transitional Amazon–Cerrado ecosystems between South America's largest biomes may be particularly vulnerable to drought, enhanced by climate change.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Biogeosciences
Published
2025-08-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3949-2025
Primary Topic
Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Sensitivity of tropical woodland savannas to El Niño droughts

H. Zhang, Maélly Dállet Alves Gonçalves, Yadvinder Singh Malhi, Renata Freitag et al.
Biogeosciences
Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems
article

Sensitivity of tropical woodland savannas to El Niño droughts

H. Zhang, Maélly Dállet Alves Gonçalves, Yadvinder Singh Malhi, Renata Freitag, Cécile Girardin, Imma Oliveras Menor, Oliver Lawrence Phillips, Eduarda Bernardes Santos, Ediméia Laura Souza da Silva, Karine da Silva Peixoto, Edmar Almeida de Oliveira, Cecilia A. L. Dahlsjö, Igor Araújo, Simone Matias Reis, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior, Beatriz Schwantes Marimon, Luciana Januário de Souza, Kamila Parreira da Silva
article en

Abstract

Abstract. The 2015–2016 El Niño event led to one of the hottest and most intense droughts for many tropical forests, profoundly impacting forest productivity. However, we know little about how this event affected the Cerrado, the largest savanna in South America. Here, we report on 5 years of productivity of the dominant vegetation types in the Cerrado, namely savanna (cerrado) and transitional forest–savanna (cerradão), continuously tracked before, during, and after the El Niño. Between 2014 and 2019, we carried out intensive monitoring of the productivity of key vegetation components (stems, leaves, roots). Cerradão productivity declined strongly by 29 % during the El Niño event. The most impacted component was stem productivity, which was reduced by 58 %. By contrast, cerrado productivity varied little over the years, and while the most affected component was fine roots, declining by 38 % during the event, fine-root productivity recovered soon after the El Niño. The two vegetation types also showed contrasting patterns in terms of the allocation of productivity to canopy, wood, and fine-root production. Our findings demonstrate that the cerradão can show low resistance and resilience to climatic disturbances due to the slow recovery of productivity. This suggests that the transitional Amazon–Cerrado ecosystems between South America's largest biomes may be particularly vulnerable to drought, enhanced by climate change.

BiogeosciencesVol. 22(15)
University of Leeds (GB), Universidade Federal do Acre (BR), Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (BR), University of Oxford (GB), Université Sorbonne Paris Nord (FR), UMR Botanique et Modélisation de l’Architecture des Plantes et des végétations (FR)
Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Mato Grosso, Natural Environment Research Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 68%
Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.