The underappreciated roles of fog and dew on vegetation and biocrusts.
Wang L, Li Y, Sun M, Qiao N
Climate Adaptation
PubMedThe mist that settles on your garden at dawn could be quietly keeping your plants alive during dry spells — and in a warming world, understanding that invisible water source may become critical for gardeners and farmers in drought-prone regions.
Scientists reviewed what we know about fog and dew — the thin moisture that forms on leaves and soil surfaces — and found they do far more than just add a little water. They help keep the area around plants cool and moist, and support the tiny living crusts on soil surfaces that hold ecosystems together. In dry parts of the world, this drizzle of invisible water could be the difference between a living landscape and a dead one.
Key Findings
Fog and dew do more than add water directly — they reshape local microclimates and redistribute moisture near canopies and soil surfaces, amplifying their impact beyond simple precipitation totals.
Biological soil crusts (communities of algae, fungi, and bacteria on the soil surface) rely heavily on fog and dew, making these moisture sources critical for dryland soil health and stability.
Major knowledge gaps remain: there is a global scarcity of fog and dew monitoring data, and the quantitative role of these inputs in reducing plant water stress is still poorly understood.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Fog and dew, though small parts of total rainfall, play outsized roles in keeping plants and soil microbes alive in dry ecosystems. This review calls for better monitoring and deeper research into how these moisture sources will be affected by climate change.
Abstract Preview
Fog and dew represent minor components of ecosystem water budgets in most ecosystems. However, fog and dew can play an essential role in ecosystem dynamics and are particularly important for water-...
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