Stabilizing effects of biodiversity on grassland productivity under climate anomalies depend on the communities' resource use strategy 

Abstract

The effects of climate changes on the stability of plant communities is a major concern, especially for the maintenance of ecosystem processes and services. Biodiversity may buffer communities from the effects of these disturbances, providing resistance and resilience. Here we assess the interplay between biodiversity facets on resistance and resilience of biomass productivity under anomalous dry and wet conditions in subtropical grasslands. Overall, high levels of taxonomic and functional biodiversity components, coupled to the community type derived from functional traits, positively affected the resistance under anomalous dry and wet conditions, whereas resilience was positively affected in the recovery from wet periods. We conclude that increased diversity of the plant communities can ensure ecosystem stability throughout the climatic anomalies, but this is contingent on the biodiversity component evaluated, the direction and intensity of the climatic anomaly, and the functional structure of the communities.