Zhang, Y. & Cassar, N. 2025. Contemporary trends in planetary photosynthetic productivity. Nature Climate Change, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02390-2. 

Zhang, Y., Li, W., Sun, G., Mao, J., Danneberg, M., Xiao, J., Li, Z., Zhao, H., Hu, S., Conghe, S., Cassar, N. 2025. Contrasting biological production trends over land and ocean. Nature Climate Change, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02375-1 .

Terrestrial and marine photosynthetic productions are typically studied separately, leaving major gaps in our understanding of planetary carbon uptake and biosphere health. Here, we jointly explored annual dynamics in land and ocean net primary production (NPP) from 2003 to 2021. Using multiple satellite-derived products, we identified an overall planetary NPP increase of 0.11 ± 0.13 PgC/yr (P = 0.05), driven by a significant terrestrial enhancement of 0.20 ± 0.07 PgC/yr (P < 0.001) and partially offset by an oceanic decline of –0.12 ± 0.12 PgC/yr (P = 0.07). These contrasting NPP trends between land and ocean likely reflect their differential sensitivity to climate warming, especially in tropical regions. While land contributes to the strong upward NPP trend, the inter-annual variability in global NPP is predominantly driven by the ocean. Our findings highlight the resilience and potential vulnerability of biospheric carbon productivity in a warming climate, calling for integrated land–ocean monitoring and assessment to support climate mitigation initiatives.