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Dew formation is associated with higher ecosystem productivity across diverse ecosystems

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Abstract

Dew is a common yet often overlooked water input in terrestrial ecosystems. Current dew research is constrained to a limited number of leaf-level field measurements, leaving a key knowledge gap in how dew affects vegetation productivity at the ecosystem scale. Using eddy covariance data from the National Ecological Observatory Network from 2017 to 2022, we quantify characteristics of dew formation in the U.S. and examine their impacts on vegetation gross primary productivity across two focal ecosystem types (grasslands and forests) and climatic regions (i.e., drylands and non-drylands). We find that dew formation is significantly associated with higher gross primary productivity across grasslands, forests, drylands, and non-drylands, highlighting the ecological contribution of dew to ecosystem productivity. Although its contribution is smaller than that of major climatic predictors, higher gross primary productivity is more pronounced with longer dew duration, particularly in grasslands and drylands. Our findings demonstrate that dew plays a significant role in shaping ecosystem carbon dynamics, particularly in drylands, and is likely to have broad implications for future carbon-water feedback in a changing climate.

Data availability

Eddy covariance tower data are available from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) repository (https://data.neonscience.org/74,75,76,77,78) and AmeriFlux (https://ameriflux.lbl.gov79,88). Aridity index is available in the Global Aridity Index and Potential Evapotranspiration (ET0) Climate Database: Version 3 (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7504448.v444). The data used for our analysis is available in the Zenodo repository (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18749861)89.

Code availability

Detailed code for data analyses and modeling (implemented in R (Version 4.3.2)), is available in the Zenodo repository (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18749861)89.

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Acknowledgements

L.W., C.G., and M.B. acknowledge funding support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grants DEB-2307257, DEB-2307258, and DEB-2307259, respectively. Eddy covariance data used in this work is based in part upon work supported by NEON, a program sponsored by the U.S. NSF and operated under cooperative agreement by Battelle. This work also used FLUXNET data products, which were produced and harmonized by eddy covariance regional networks and data processing centers, including AmeriFlux, ChinaFlux, European Fluxes Database, ICOS, JapanFlux, KoFlux, OzFlux, SAEON, and TERN. These products also include a modified version of ERA5 hourly data provided by the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Indiana University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, USA

    Mengyun Sun & Lixin Wang

  2. Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA

    Wenzhe Jiao

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, USA

    Cynthia Gerlein-Safdi

  4. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, USA

    Max Berkelhammer

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  1. Mengyun Sun
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  2. Wenzhe Jiao
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  3. Cynthia Gerlein-Safdi
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  4. Max Berkelhammer
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  5. Lixin Wang
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Contributions

M.S. and L.W. conceived the study. M.S., C.G., M.B., and L.W. conceptualized the main research question. M.S. and W.J. collected data and performed data analysis. M.S. and L.W. wrote the first draft. M.S., W.J., C.G., M.B., and L.W. contributed to writing, reviewing, and editing.

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Correspondence to
Lixin Wang.

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Nature Communications thanks Giora Hebrew, Chaoqing Huang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.

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Sun, M., Jiao, W., Gerlein-Safdi, C. et al. Dew formation is associated with higher ecosystem productivity across diverse ecosystems.
Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71933-8

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