Temporal Stability of Grazed Grassland Ecosystems Alters Response to Climate Variability, While Resistance Stability Remains Unchanged
Ying Han,
Yantao Wu,
Jiahe Cui,
Hangyu Li,
Hao Li,
Jinghui Zhang,
Bailing Miao,
Lixin Wang,
Zhiyong Li,
Cunzhu Liang
Affiliations
Ying Han
Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, Ministry of Education of China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Yantao Wu
Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, Ministry of Education of China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Jiahe Cui
Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, Ministry of Education of China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Hangyu Li
Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, Ministry of Education of China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Hao Li
Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, Ministry of Education of China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Jinghui Zhang
Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, Ministry of Education of China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Bailing Miao
Inner Mongolia Meteorological Institute, Hohhot 010051, China
Lixin Wang
Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, Ministry of Education of China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Zhiyong Li
Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, Ministry of Education of China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Cunzhu Liang
Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, Ministry of Education of China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Environmental change is a crucial driver shaping grassland biodiversity and stability. Both environmental change and stability contain multiple dimensions. Nonetheless, few studies examined multiple dimensions of stability in response to environmental change, especially under the combined effects of climatic variability and grazing intensity. Here, we conducted a 7-year field sheep grazing experiment, and we evaluated the impacts of grazing intensity (GI) and climate variability (temperature and precipitation variability) on plant community diversity and productivity and multi-dimensional stability using linear and structural equation models. Our results show that increasing grazing intensity significantly decreased temporal stability but did not affect resistance stability. Compared with the non-grazing (NG) treatment, grazing reduced temporal stability by 35.78%. The decline is primarily attributed to the grazing-induced reduction in evenness and weakening of species asynchrony, which in turn impairs insurance effects. The insignificant change in resistance stability was attributed to a trade-off between reduced interspecific competition and direct negative effects. Furthermore, temperature variability and precipitation variability exacerbate and mitigate the effects of grazing on temporal stability (negative) and resistance stability (positive), respectively. Overall, temporal stability is mainly influenced by temperature variability and GI, while resistance stability is mainly affected by GI. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the dimensions of stability and disturbance. Different dimensions of stability may respond differently to disturbance. Multiple disturbances may also interact synergistically or antagonistically on plant community stability.
