Extreme Climate Change in Drylands

Drylands are among the most climate-sensitive ecosystems on Earth, and the communities and economies that depend on them face mounting climate risk as heatwaves and droughts intensify. These extremes disrupt soil biogeochemical processes, destabilize coupled carbon and oxygen cycles, and erode the ecosystem functions that underpin regional ecological and livelihood security. Understanding how these hazards translate into vulnerability, and how ecosystems and people can adapt, is central to managing climate risk in drylands. This Research Topic connects evidence on dryland ecosystem responses to extreme climate with the assessment, reduction, and governance of the risks that follow — supporting evidence-based conservation, adaptation, and resilience-building.This Research Topic aims to reframe the threat of climate extremes to dryland ecosystem stability as a climate risk management challenge. Building on process understanding of disrupted carbon and oxygen cycles, we seek studies that assess exposure, vulnerability, and resilience, and that translate ecological findings into actionable risk-reduction and adaptation strategies. We encourage work that integrates in situ observations, laboratory analyses, and model simulations with risk assessment frameworks, decision-support tools, and ecosystem-based or nature-based adaptation — improving projections and informing conservation, adaptive management, and climate-resilient pathways for dryland regions and the people who depend on them.This Research Topic focuses on regional and local climate risk in drylands, particularly the impacts of unprecedented extreme events on ecosystem stability, ecological security, and dependent communities. We welcome original research, reviews, policy and practice contributions, and data-driven studies — including AI, geospatial, and remote-sensing approaches — that link changes in carbon and oxygen cycles and climate–ecosystem feedbacks to vulnerability, resilience metrics, early warning, and adaptation. Contributions that combine mechanistic insight with risk assessment, decision-making, and ecosystem-based adaptation, and that address the social, economic, or governance dimensions of managing climate risk in drylands, are especially encouraged. Topic editors: Dongliang Han, Yanfeng Wu, Alain N Rousseau Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81465/extreme-climate-change-in-drylands