Meshing evidence from multiple datasets unveils Earth's mechanisms for adapting to environmental changes As the Earth system moves through continuous changes, scientists have attempted to predict pathways the planet will follow by unraveling trajectories of individual ecosystems and their interactions and by identifying the thresholds beyond which irreversible changes might occur (1). For example, increases in global aridity are known to affect terrestrial ecosystems, but it remains unknown whether modifications in global aridity will cause gradual or abrupt systemic or idiosyncratic transitions. Now, on page 787 of this issue, Berdugo et al. (2) analyze large datasets of observational and empirical evidence from studies of drylands. The authors show that changes occur in a sequential series of nonlinear thresholds beyond which dryland vegetation can vanish, leaving bare soil to prevail.

中文翻译：

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跨越生态系统转变的门槛

来自多个数据集的网格证据揭示了地球适应环境变化的机制随着地球系统不断变化，科学家们试图通过解开各个生态系统及其相互作用的轨迹，并通过确定不可逆转变化的阈值来预测地球将遵循的路径可能发生（1）。例如，已知全球干旱的增加会影响陆地生态系统，但全球干旱的变化是否会导致渐进或突然的系统性或特殊性转变仍然未知。现在，在本期第 787 页，Berdugo 等人。(2) 分析来自旱地研究的大量观测和经验证据数据集。