Droughts have increased globally in the twenty-first century and are expected to become more extreme and widespread in the future. Assessments of how drought affects plants and ecosystems lack consistency in scope and methodology, confounding efforts to mechanistically interpret structural and functional impacts and predict future transformations under climate change. To promote integration among studies, we identify water deficit conditions that are ecologically meaningful, clarify the stages in which ecological drought progresses, and consider approaches to synthesize drought effects across multiple species and ecosystems. This improved ecological drought framework reveals advantages of using different ecological drought metrics and strengthens approaches to distinguish ecosystem stress from crossing an irreversible threshold. We employ several well-studied examples from water-limited ecosystems, which contain plants that are often at their physiological limits and highly responsive to climate variability. We suggest that emerging research on early warning signs, drought recovery, and the effects of land management interventions be incorporated into the ecological drought framework. An integrative approach to understand ecological drought can accelerate scientific advancement and create opportunity to adapt and prepare for crossing irreversible ecosystem thresholds.

在二十一世纪，全球干旱增加了，预计将来会变得更加极端和广泛。关于干旱如何影响植物和生态系统的评估在范围和方法上缺乏一致性，使机械地解释结构和功能影响以及预测气候变化下的未来转变的努力变得混乱。为了促进研究之间的整合，我们确定了具有生态意义的缺水状况，阐明了生态干旱的发展阶段，并考虑了综合多种物种和生态系统的干旱影响的方法。改进后的生态干旱框架揭示了使用不同生态干旱指标的优势，并加强了区分生态系统压力与跨越不可逆阈值的方法。我们从水资源有限的生态系统中运用了几个经过充分研究的示例，这些示例所包含的植物通常处于其生理极限，并且对气候变化具有高度的响应能力。我们建议将有关预警信号，干旱恢复以及土地管理干预措施的影响的新兴研究纳入生态干旱框架。理解生态干旱的综合方法可以加快科学进步，并为适应和为克服不可逆转的生态系统阈值做好准备。并将土地管理干预措施的效果纳入生态干旱框架。理解生态干旱的综合方法可以加快科学进步，并为适应和为克服不可逆转的生态系统阈值做好准备。并将土地管理干预措施的效果纳入生态干旱框架。理解生态干旱的综合方法可以加快科学进步，并为适应和为克服不可逆转的生态系统阈值做好准备。