Biodiversity showed positive effects on resistance but mixed effects on resilience to climatic extremes in a long-term grassland experiment

Md Lokman Hossain; Jianfeng Li; Samuel Hoffmann; Carl Beierkuhnlein

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154322

Biodiversity showed positive effects on resistance but mixed effects on resilience to climatic extremes in a long-term grassland experiment

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 25:827:154322. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154322. Epub 2022 Mar 4.

Authors

Md Lokman Hossain¹, Jianfeng Li², Samuel Hoffmann³, Carl Beierkuhnlein⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Baptist University Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China; Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany; Department of Environment Protection Technology, German University Bangladesh, 1702 Gazipur, Bangladesh.
² Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Baptist University Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: jianfengli@hkbu.edu.hk.
³ Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany.
⁴ Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany; BayCEER, Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Research, Universitätsstr. 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany.

PMID: 35257775
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154322

Abstract

Understanding the role of biodiversity in maintaining ecosystem functioning and stability under increasing frequency and magnitude of climatic extremes has fascinated ecologists for decades. Although growing evidence suggests that biodiversity affects ecosystem productivity and buffers ecosystem against climatic extremes, it remains unclear whether the stability of an ecosystem is caused by its resistance against disturbances or resilience towards perturbations or both. In attempting to explore how species richness affects resistance and resilience of above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) against climatic extremes, we analyzed the grassland ANPP of the long-running (1997-2020) Bayreuth Biodiversity experiment in Germany. We used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index to identify climatic conditions based on 5- and 7-class classifications of climatic conditions. Mixed-effects models and post-hoc test show that ANPP varied significantly among different intensities (e.g. moderate or extreme) and directions (e.g. dry or wet) of climatic conditions, with the highest ANPP in extreme wet and the lowest in extreme dry conditions. Resistance and resilience of ANPP to climatic extremes in different intensities were examined by linear-mixed effects models and we found that species richness increased ecosystem resistance against all dry and wet climatic extremes, but decreased ecosystem resilience towards all dry climatic extremes. Species richness had no effects on ecosystem resilience towards wet climatic extremes. When the five level of species richness treatment (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 species) were considered, the relationships between species richness and resistance and resilience of ANPP under extreme wet and dry conditions remained similar. Our study emphasizes that plant communities with greater species richness need to be maintained to stabilize ecosystem productivity and increase resistance against different climatic extremes.

Keywords: Biodiversity-stability relationship; Drought; Hay meadow; Resilience; Resistance; Species richness.

MeSH terms

Biodiversity
Climate
Climate Change
Ecosystem*
Grassland*