Ecosystem decoupled from water as precipitation increases in a warming Tibetan Plateau

Ecosystem decoupled from water as precipitation increases in a warming Tibetan Plateau | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Ecosystem decoupled from water as precipitation increases in a warming Tibetan Plateau Qiang Liu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6651807/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Greening induced by warming and wetting in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has given rise to novel questions about whether the ecosystem constrains should be increased. The present manuscript evaluated the impact of vegetation modification on water and energy limitations, and the subsequent attribution of these limitations. Interestingly, water constraint, accompanied by increased evapotranspiration ( ET ) due to greening, was alleviated because of increased precipitation ( Pre ). Water constraint shows asymmetrical trend with vegetation greening in the water- and energy-limited regions, i.e., ecosystem tends to decouple from water limitation in the water-limited regions, whereas it tends to strengthen the water constraint in the energy-limited regions. Attribution analysis indicated the complex interaction between water and energy status in controlling the ecosystem function. Although the water constraint trend tended to be alleviated in most regions in the TP, available water is still the critical role in controlling the ecosystem function. The shift of water constraint induced by the warming and wetting indicated a new equilibrium to partition the Pre . These results provided novel insight to the shift of ecosystem function and its involved hydrological effects in the TP. Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Climate change/Climate-change impacts/Environmental health Biological sciences/Ecology/Climate-change ecology/Phenology vegetation greening evapotranspiration soil moisture water constraint the Tibetan Plateau Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Summplementarymaterials.docx Ecosystem decoupled from water as precipitation increases in a warming Tibetan Plateau Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6651807","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":460056624,"identity":"4841c51c-ee99-45dc-91f0-af966cfc8f20","order_by":0,"name":"Qiang Liu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA3klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACZjBpwcPA3gNmMTYQqUWCh4HnDLFaIEACiHKI1MJ3nPnZwy8MEjIGN98ee8zDYCO74QDzswf4tEgeZjM3lgE6zOB2XroxD0Oa8YYDbOYG+LQYHGYwk5YAa8kxk+ZhOJy44QAPmwR+LezfIFpungFp+U+MFh4zyQ8gLTd4QFoOENYieZinTJrBQIJH8kxemuQcg2TjmYfZzPBq4Tt/fJvkjwobe77jZ49JvKmwk+073vwMrxaGA8DY5IGHEIjBjFc9RAvjD0KKRsEoGAWjYGQDAB+EPkCmDzEGAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Beijing Normal University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-13 05:55:06","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6651807/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6651807/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":84691063,"identity":"156311d2-3300-4b19-8720-ef0b84789d71","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-16 09:44:12","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1149741,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"NCManuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6651807/v1_covered_986ef9b7-d98c-4734-ba70-2cbffdfe101b.pdf"},{"id":84688006,"identity":"a14a6579-32eb-4f56-b7de-343085ed58a1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-16 09:20:09","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":432829,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Ecosystem decoupled from water as precipitation increases in a warming Tibetan Plateau","description":"","filename":"Summplementarymaterials.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6651807/v1/b38c534a958dd2815f65a1e2.docx"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Ecosystem decoupled from water as precipitation increases in a warming Tibetan Plateau","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"vegetation greening, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, water constraint, the Tibetan Plateau","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6651807/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6651807/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eGreening induced by warming and wetting in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has given rise to novel questions about whether the ecosystem constrains should be increased. 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