Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41662570›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026

Climate-driven reduction in biomass production of the Eurasian steppe coincides with nomadic migration during the first millennium CE.

Feng Chen, Xiaoen Zhao, Weipeng Yue, Shijie Wang, Yong Zhang, Youping Chen, Mao Hu, Jan Esper, Ulf Büntgen, Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist and 9 more

Abstract readHistorical Article
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

19 authors.

Feng ChenYunnan Key Laboratory of International Rivers and Transboundary Eco-Security/Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Eco-Security of Southwest China, Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China.ORCID 0000-0002-2551-8653
Xiaoen ZhaoYunnan Key Laboratory of International Rivers and Transboundary Eco-Security/Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Eco-Security of Southwest China, Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China.
Weipeng YueYunnan Key Laboratory of International Rivers and Transboundary Eco-Security/Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Eco-Security of Southwest China, Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China.ORCID 0000-0001-8785-6431
Shijie WangYunnan Key Laboratory of International Rivers and Transboundary Eco-Security/Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Eco-Security of Southwest China, Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China.
Yong ZhangKey Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Youping ChenState Key Laboratory of Vegetation Structure, Functions and Construction, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China.ORCID 0000-0002-9290-1265
Mao HuYunnan Key Laboratory of International Rivers and Transboundary Eco-Security/Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Eco-Security of Southwest China, Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China.
Jan EsperDepartment of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz 55099, Germany.
Ulf BüntgenGlobal Change Research Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno 60300, Czech Republic.ORCID 0000-0002-3821-0818
Fredrik Charpentier LjungqvistDepartment of History, Stockholm University, Stockholm SE-10691, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0003-0220-3947
Amy E HesslDepartment of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506.ORCID 0000-0002-2279-6260
Max C A TorbensonDepartment of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz 55099, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-2720-2238
Yujiang YuanKey Laboratory of Tree-Ring, Physical and Chemical Research, Institute of Desert Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Urumqi 830002, China.
Martín A HadadLaboratorio de Dendrocronología de Zonas Áridas-Instituto y Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Centro de Investigaciones de la Geósfera y Biósfera, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas - Universidad Nacional de San Juan, San Juan 3306, Argentina.ORCID 0000-0002-9334-064X
Fidel A RoigLaboratorio de Dendrocronología e Historia Ambiental, Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas-Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza 5500, Argentina.ORCID 0000-0003-0987-0486
Honghua CaoYunnan Key Laboratory of International Rivers and Transboundary Eco-Security/Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Eco-Security of Southwest China, Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China.
Heli ZhangKey Laboratory of Tree-Ring, Physical and Chemical Research, Institute of Desert Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Urumqi 830002, China.ORCID 0000-0002-7644-2927
Yaqun LiangSchool of History and Administration, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China.
Fahu ChenAlpine Paleoecology and Human Adaptation Group, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.

Funding

MOST | NSFC | International Cooperation and Exchange Programme (International Cooperation & Exchange Programs) 42588201
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Although it is generally accepted today that climate and other environmental factors affected past human societies at different spatiotemporal scales, direct linkages are difficult to determine, and correlation should not be confused with causation. Here, we use a tree-ring width network of multimillennial chronologies from inner Eurasia to reconstruct annual changes in Net Primary Productivity (NPP) back to 200 BCE. Our findings reveal that episodes of reduced NPP around the 70s-100s, 360s-380s, and 470s-560s CE likely contributed to the westward and southward migration of nomadic people from their homelands in northwestern China and Mongolia. Although prolonged multidecadal periods of climate-induced low NPP served as tipping points for agricultural and pastoral subsistence systems, the inherent mobility of nomadic communities not only enabled them to adapt to adverse environmental conditions but also facilitated a widespread dispersal of ethnic groups.

Indexed as

BiomassClimateClimate ChangeGrasslandHuman MigrationChinaHistory, AncientHumansMongoliaTreesbiomass productionclimatic changenomadic migrationtree rings

Identifiers

PMID41662570
PMCPMC12933123

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

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.