Plant acquisitive strategies promote resistance and temporal stability of semiarid grasslands

Abstract

Among ecologists, it is widely believed that conservative growth strategies of plants are crucial for sustaining ecosystem stability, while the potential stabilising role of acquisitive strategies has received little attention. We investigated the relationships between plant traits and three stability dimensions—temporal stability, resistance and resilience—using two complementary datasets from drought-affected semi-arid grasslands: a temporal plant community survey from a single site and a 1000-km transect survey with satellite-derived productivity estimates. We found strikingly consistent patterns from the two datasets, with grasslands dominated by acquisitive strategies exhibiting greater resistance and temporal stability of productivity. Acquisitive strategies enhance stability by facilitating drought escape and avoidance, rather than drought tolerance typically associated with conservative strategies. These results highlight the important but underappreciated role of acquisitive strategies in enhancing ecosystem resistance to disturbances and maintaining temporal stability in semi-arid grasslands.