Disentangling the Mutual Feedback Relationship between Extreme Drought and Flood Events and Ecological Succession of Vegetation

Abstract

In the context of climate change, the extreme precipitation events over most of the mid-latitude land masses and over wet tropical regions will very likely become more intense and more frequent, which may cause increases in the intensity and frequency of extreme drought or flood events. To explore the mechanism of dynamic and functional changes in ecosystems driven by extreme drought and flood events (EDFEs) in the future and the interaction between the two, this study focuses on the mutual feedback relationship between EDFEs and the ecological succession of vegetation. To accomplish this target, we reviewed relevant studies of the impacts of EDFEs on vegetation ecology (including growth status and living states) and that of feedback of ecological succession of vegetation to EDFEs. This study is of great significance for accurately predicting the future dynamic succession of plant communities, and the circulation of materials of future ecosystem with ongoing climate change, which provides fundamental and scientific basis for the establishment of ecological protection and restoration strategies in response to frequent climate extremes.

Quantifying the Impacts of Dry–Wet Combination Events on Vegetation Vulnerability in the Loess Plateau under a Changing Environment

“…Droughts and floods, with their broad impact and frequent occurrence, post significant threats to the ecological environment, food security, economic development, and human health [1][2][3][4]. Under changing environments, drought and flood disasters with spatiotemporal correlation will occur continuously or interact with each other to develop into dry and wet combination events (DWCEs) [5,6], increasing the scope and intensity of the disaster and causing more serious losses to society.…”

Early Exotic Vegetation Development Is Affected by Vine Plants and Bird Activity at Rapidly Exposed Floodplains in South Korea

“…However, the increased frequency and duration of flooding events due to changes in land use patterns, climate change-induced extreme weather, and regime alterations stemming from reservoir and weir development within a floodplain can disrupt the soil environment by introducing contaminants [14]. Physical disturbances in an ecosystem also affect the succession of vegetation [15]. Previous studies have demonstrated that such extreme drought and flooding related soil disturbances affect succession through vegetation growth and survival [15].…”

“…Physical disturbances in an ecosystem also affect the succession of vegetation [15]. Previous studies have demonstrated that such extreme drought and flooding related soil disturbances affect succession through vegetation growth and survival [15].…”

Optimal Allocation of Slope Ecological Restoration for the Climate Change Mitigation and Natural Function Improvement

“…On the one hand, it directly affects vertical hydrological processes such as the atmospheric water vapor flux (Fathizadeh et al, 2017;Ghimire et al, 2017;Liu J. et al, 2018b), soil water movement (Wu et al, 2017;Huang et al, 2017;Yu et al, 2018;Bo et al, 2021;Xu M. et al, 2021), and evapotranspiration (Li et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2018). On the other hand, the canopy structure and community succession of vegetation indirectly affect the horizontal hydrological processes such as runoff generation and confluence on the slope (Amenu and Kumar, 2008;Yang et al, 2010;Dong et al, 2021) by changing the underlying surface conditions and the surface roughness. Aiming at mitigating the extreme impacts of climate change on hydrological processes and improving ecological service functions, how to optimally allocate ecological restoration on slopes has become one of the key scientific issues in the intersecting fields of climatology, ecology, and hydrology.…”