Do nutrients modify ecosystem stability in response to precipitation variability?

GHERARDI, LAUREANO; YAHDJIAN, LAURA; BORER, ELIZABETH T.; FAY, PHILIP A.

Portland, Oregon

Congreso; 102th Ecological Society of America Meeting; 2017

Ecological Society of America

Climate change is likely to make extreme drought and deluge more regular occurrences in grasslands. Structural and functional diversity in these systems is critical to provide resilience against extreme events. Diversity occurs in part because multiple resources are limiting. How do we understand multiple resource limitation in the context of a variable and changing climate? How do extreme events exacerbate, or ameliorate, the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function when limiting resources are added? Answers to these questions provided by a global nutrient addition experiment will identify key mechanisms conferring functional resilience to climate extremes, and thus the threshold of their ability to maintain ecosystem services.