Precipitation variability can bias estimates of ecological controls on ecosystem productivity response to precipitation change

Annual vegetation aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) exhibits a nonlinear dependence on annual precipitation. A common pattern of nonlinearity, called asymmetry, arises when productivity responses in wet years are larger than declines in dry years. To-date, ANPP asymmetry has been attributed primarily to vegetation water stress, an internal ecosystem response to precipitation and soil water availability. However, when quantified via the asymmetry index (AI) estimated from productivity measurements, the asymmetry can be a sampling artifact that arises from a positively skewed annual precipitation distribution. In this paper, we aimed to separate the sampling effect (from external precipitation variability) from the nonlinear response of the system (the internal ecosystem dynamics). We constructed a probabilistic model that integrates the precipitation distribution with the precipitation-productivity response curve (PPT-ANPP curve), derived using empirical formulae and a process-..., , , # Precipitation variability can bias estimates of ecological controls on ecosystem productivity response to precipitation change

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.r7sqv9scz](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.r7sqv9scz)

Precipitation variability can bias estimates of ecological controls on ecosystem productivity response to precipitation change

Parolari and Paschalis (2021), Ecohydrology, doi:10.1002/eco.2384

DATA FILES

\* Precipitation and Above-ground Net Primary Productivity (ANPP) data are contained described in the following references:

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Bai, Y. F., Li, L. H., Huang...