Aridity regulates scale-dependent effects of multiple resource additions on productivity stability in Eurasian grasslands

Increasing the supply of multiple limiting resources generally reduces biodiversity and community stability in grasslands. Aridity is known to modify biodiversity-stability relationships, yet it remains unclear whether the effects of multiple resource supply on biodiversity and stability vary along aridity gradients and across spatial scales. Here, we examine how aridity mediates the responses of biodiversity and stability at multiple scales to increasing the number of added resources (e.g., water and nutrients) in Eurasian grasslands. Increasing the number of added resources reduced local plant species richness, asynchronous biomass dynamics among local communities (spatial asynchrony), and the stability of productivity at larger spatial scales, but had no effect on local-scale productivity stability. The negative effects of multiple resource addition on diversity, spatial asynchrony and large-scale productivity stability weakened with increasing aridity, with more arid grasslands showing weaker responses. Mechanistically, increasing resource supply reduced large-scale productivity stability primarily by reducing spatial asynchrony, while increasing aridity weakened the contribution of spatial asynchrony to large-scale productivity stability. Overall, our results demonstrate that the negative effects of multiple resource supply on grassland stability are scale-dependent and strongly regulated by aridity. Increasing inputs of water and nutrients are reshaping grassland ecosystems worldwide, yet their ecological effects may vary across aridity gradients and spatial scales. The study shows that increasing aridity weakens the negative effects of multiple resource additions on large-scale productivity stability by reducing the stabilizing role of spatial asynchrony.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-10-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-78043-5
Primary Topic
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
Type
article
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article

Aridity regulates scale-dependent effects of multiple resource additions on productivity stability in Eurasian grasslands

Dashuan Tian, Fons van der Plas, Marcelo Sternberg, Hui An et al.
Nature Communications
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
article

Aridity regulates scale-dependent effects of multiple resource additions on productivity stability in Eurasian grasslands

Dashuan Tian, Fons van der Plas, Marcelo Sternberg, Hui An, Juntao Zhu, Kuanhu Dong, Cunzheng Wei, Fawei Zhang, Yujue Miao, Huajie Diao, Shuxuan Liu, Qiang Yu, Yuguang Ke, Xiaoan Zuo, Maowei Liang, Ning Zong, Yann Hautier, Shaopeng Wang, Honghui Wu, M. R. Smith, Yunlong He, Zhaobing Song, Scott L. Collins, Ping Yue, Dong Cao, Chong Xu, Bo Zhang, Jielin Liu, Daqing Peng
article en

Abstract

Increasing the supply of multiple limiting resources generally reduces biodiversity and community stability in grasslands. Aridity is known to modify biodiversity-stability relationships, yet it remains unclear whether the effects of multiple resource supply on biodiversity and stability vary along aridity gradients and across spatial scales. Here, we examine how aridity mediates the responses of biodiversity and stability at multiple scales to increasing the number of added resources (e.g., water and nutrients) in Eurasian grasslands. Increasing the number of added resources reduced local plant species richness, asynchronous biomass dynamics among local communities (spatial asynchrony), and the stability of productivity at larger spatial scales, but had no effect on local-scale productivity stability. The negative effects of multiple resource addition on diversity, spatial asynchrony and large-scale productivity stability weakened with increasing aridity, with more arid grasslands showing weaker responses. Mechanistically, increasing resource supply reduced large-scale productivity stability primarily by reducing spatial asynchrony, while increasing aridity weakened the contribution of spatial asynchrony to large-scale productivity stability. Overall, our results demonstrate that the negative effects of multiple resource supply on grassland stability are scale-dependent and strongly regulated by aridity. Increasing inputs of water and nutrients are reshaping grassland ecosystems worldwide, yet their ecological effects may vary across aridity gradients and spatial scales. The study shows that increasing aridity weakens the negative effects of multiple resource additions on large-scale productivity stability by reducing the stabilizing role of spatial asynchrony.

Nature Communications
Shanxi Agricultural University (CN), University of Minnesota (US), Tel Aviv University (IL), University of New Mexico (US), Utrecht University (NL), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Peking University (CN), Ningxia University (CN), Beijing Forestry University (CN), Heilongjiang Academy of Sciences (CN), Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (CN), Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources (CN), Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (CN), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CN), Institute of Botany (CN), Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (CN), Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve (US), State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Wageningen University & Research (NL), Colorado State University (US)
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Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
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