Wildfires diminish vegetation control on surface runoff
- 1State Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210000, China.
- 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100000, China.
- 3College of Nanjing, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210000, China.
Abstract
Wildfires are increasingly reshaping global terrestrial ecosystems, yet their impacts on the fundamental coupling between vegetation and the hydrological cycle remain poorly understood. Here, we present a global-scale assessment of how wildfire disturbances alter the sensitivity of surface runoff to vegetation dynamics using multidecadal satellite observations and reanalysis datasets. We developed a spatially explicit framework to quantify pre- and postfire runoff-vegetation sensitivity across climatic gradients and fire regimes. We show a widespread and systematic weakening of vegetation control on runoff after wildfires, indicating a fundamental decoupling of hydrology-vegetation interactions. This attenuation is notably modulated by aridity and fire intensity, with the most pronounced sensitivity losses occurring in fragile drylands. These findings expose a critical blind spot in traditional hydrological models that overlook disturbance-driven vegetation shifts. Our study provides a mechanistic understanding of how compound climate-fire perturbations accelerate terrestrial water flux instability, suggesting that increasing fire frequency will exacerbate ecosystem vulnerability and threaten water security in a warming world.
Related
- Synergistic effects of biochar and vegetation on microplastic and nanoplastic removal from stormwater runoff in bioretention systems
- Synergistic valorization of oil palm empty fruit bunch and pome sludge for balanced erosion control and runoff quality
- Basin-scale evaluation of the Noah-MP land surface model for runoff and snow generation in the Missouri River Basin: insights and recommendations for parameterization scheme selection
- River Runoff Control on Inshore Salinity Variability Recorded by Coral‐Derived δ 18 O sw in the Seribu Islands, Indonesia
- External observers’ and local users’ perceptions of vegetation and surface transformations in historic urban square renovations
BibTeX
@article{peng2026wildfires,
title = {{Wildfires diminish vegetation control on surface runoff}},
author = {Yuanyuan Peng and Kun Shi and Shun Bi and Qi Guan},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aei3713},
url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aei3713},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Wildfires diminish vegetation control on surface runoff
AU - Yuanyuan Peng
AU - Kun Shi
AU - Shun Bi
AU - Qi Guan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aei3713
UR - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aei3713
AB - Wildfires are increasingly reshaping global terrestrial ecosystems, yet their impacts on the fundamental coupling between vegetation and the hydrological cycle remain poorly understood. Here, we present a global-scale assessment of how wildfire disturbances alter the sensitivity of surface runoff to vegetation dynamics using multidecadal satellite observations and reanalysis datasets. We developed a spatially explicit framework to quantify pre- and postfire runoff-vegetation sensitivity across climatic gradients and fire regimes. We show a widespread and systematic weakening of vegetation control on runoff after wildfires, indicating a fundamental decoupling of hydrology-vegetation interactions. This attenuation is notably modulated by aridity and fire intensity, with the most pronounced sensitivity losses occurring in fragile drylands. These findings expose a critical blind spot in traditional hydrological models that overlook disturbance-driven vegetation shifts. Our study provides a mechanistic understanding of how compound climate-fire perturbations accelerate terrestrial water flux instability, suggesting that increasing fire frequency will exacerbate ecosystem vulnerability and threaten water security in a warming world.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -