Climate-driven reduction in biomass production of the Eurasian steppe coincides with nomadic migration during the first millennium CE

Although it is generally accepted today that climate and other environmental factors affected past human societies at different spatiotemporal scales, direct linkages are difficult to determine, and correlation should not be confused with causation. Here, we use a tree-ring width network of multimillennial chronologies from inner Eurasia to reconstruct annual changes in Net Primary Productivity (NPP) back to 200 BCE. Our findings reveal that episodes of reduced NPP around the 70s-100s, 360s-380s, and 470s-560s CE likely contributed to the westward and southward migration of nomadic people from their homelands in northwestern China and Mongolia. Although prolonged multidecadal periods of climate-induced low NPP served as tipping points for agricultural and pastoral subsistence systems, the inherent mobility of nomadic communities not only enabled them to adapt to adverse environmental conditions but also facilitated a widespread dispersal of ethnic groups.

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Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2026-02-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2513573123
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Tree-ring climate responses
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
40.64
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article

Climate-driven reduction in biomass production of the Eurasian steppe coincides with nomadic migration during the first millennium CE

Jan Esper, Weipeng Yue, Yaqun Liang, Shijie Wang et al.
1 citations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Tree-ring climate responses
40.64
article

Climate-driven reduction in biomass production of the Eurasian steppe coincides with nomadic migration during the first millennium CE

Jan Esper, Weipeng Yue, Yaqun Liang, Shijie Wang, Mao Hu, Heli Zhang, Büntgen Ulf, Yujiang Yuan, Max C. A. Torbenson, Xiaoen Zhao, Youping Chen, Honghua Cao, Amy E. Hessl, Yong Zhang, Fidel A. Roig, Martín A. Hadad, Feng Chen, Fahu Chen
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Although it is generally accepted today that climate and other environmental factors affected past human societies at different spatiotemporal scales, direct linkages are difficult to determine, and correlation should not be confused with causation. Here, we use a tree-ring width network of multimillennial chronologies from inner Eurasia to reconstruct annual changes in Net Primary Productivity (NPP) back to 200 BCE. Our findings reveal that episodes of reduced NPP around the 70s-100s, 360s-380s, and 470s-560s CE likely contributed to the westward and southward migration of nomadic people from their homelands in northwestern China and Mongolia. Although prolonged multidecadal periods of climate-induced low NPP served as tipping points for agricultural and pastoral subsistence systems, the inherent mobility of nomadic communities not only enabled them to adapt to adverse environmental conditions but also facilitated a widespread dispersal of ethnic groups.

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesVol. 123(8)
Universidad Mayor (CL), Yunnan Normal University (CN), West Virginia University (US), Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China (CN), China Meteorological Administration (CN), Stockholm University (SE), Yunnan University (CN), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Masaryk University (CZ), University of Cambridge (GB), National University of San Juan (AR), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE), Czech Academy of Sciences, Global Change Research Institute (CZ), Instituto de Química del Noroeste Argentino (AR), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (CN), Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (CN), Bolin Centre for Climate Research (SE), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Lanzhou University (CN)
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Tree-ring climate responses
40.64
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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