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# Forests can become more productive while becoming less resilient
- URL: https://intelligence.wildlandseco.com/2026-09-13-forests-productivity-resilience-aridity/
- Published: 2026-09-13T17:43:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-13T17:43:52.000Z
- Description: Global remote sensing shows rising atmospheric aridity can increase or maintain productivity even as resilience erodes, especially in structurally simplified forests.
- Author: Benjamin Worlund
- Tags: forest resilience, atmospheric aridity, vapor pressure deficit, productivity, Land, Climate, #ecological-intelligence, #brief-2026-09-13, #priority-read, #peer-reviewed, #geo-global

Evidence

Peer-reviewed

Geography

Global forests

System

Boreal, temperate and tropical forests

## WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

A 2001–2021 global remote-sensing analysis found that more than one-third of forests simultaneously gained gross primary productivity while losing resilience. Rising vapour pressure deficit was the strongest driver of resilience loss, and non-intact forests were about twice as sensitive to resilience decline as intact forests.

## WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

Carbon uptake and productivity are not reliable stand-alone proxies for forest stability. A forest can look productive in near-term flux metrics while becoming more vulnerable to drought, heat or disturbance; structural simplification appears to amplify that vulnerability.

## CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

Resilience is inferred from remote-sensing time-series behavior rather than measured as direct mortality risk. Relationships differ among forest types, and productivity–water-use coupling can reflect stomatal constraint rather than improved physiological performance.

## SOURCE

Communications Earth & Environment · Original evidence  
[View original evidence ↗](https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-04040-7?ref=intelligence.wildlandseco.com)

From the Morning Brief · 2026-09-13

[Read the full Morning Brief →](https://intelligence.wildlandseco.com/morning-brief-2026-09-13/)