ArticleScience advances2026
Forest loss intensifies meteorological drought in more than half of Earth's climate zones.
Article in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Global forest loss increases the risk of meteorological drought by altering surface energy balances. While local impacts on temperature and precipitation are known, the extent and underlying mechanisms of its influence on meteorological drought remain unclear. Here, we analyzed 3696 paired forest loss and intact sites across boreal, temperate, and tropical zones. Forest loss intensified meteorological drought in more than 52% of affected regions. Drought prevalence in boreal zones rose by 5% over 20 years-three times greater than in tropical zones-because of reduced latent heat flux and increased surface albedo, which together suppressed convective rainfall. In contrast, tropical forests demonstrated greater ecological resilience, mitigating ~40% of meteorological drought intensification. Notably, forest loss-induced meteorological drought may further evolve into more severe agricultural and hydrological droughts. Therefore, we recommend implementing strategies tailored for each climate zone, including native forest conservation, proactive ecological restoration, and connectivity enhancement, to effectively reduce drought risk.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.