a b s t r a c t
Drought is projected to become more prevalent in the future due to climate change, and its impact on the
fate of terrestrial ecosystems has aroused great concern in the scientific community over the past decade.
Mounting evidence suggests that drought may be the most important physical stress of terrestrial ecosystems:
drought limits vegetation growth, increases wildfires, and induces tree mortality, among other
impacts. Drought not only weakens the carbon sink function of terrestrial ecosystems but also may interfere
directly or indirectly with biosphere–atmosphere interactions, further exacerbating climate change.
This paper reviews the current evidence of the impacts of drought on terrestrial ecosystems, with particular
emphasis on the ways in which drought alters the biological, biogeophysical and biogeochemical
processes underlying the interaction between the biosphere and the atmosphere.
2014 Ecological Society of China. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.