RT Journal Article
T1 Plant acquisitive strategies promote resistance and temporal stability of semiarid grasslands
A1 Yan, Pu
A1 He, Nianpeng
A1 Fernández Martínez, Marcos
A1 Yang, Xian
A1 Zuo, Yiping
A1 Zhang, Hao
A1 Wang, Jing
A1 Chen, Shiping
A1 Song, Jian
A1 Li, Guoyong
A1 Valencia Gómez, Enrique
A1 Wan, Shiqiang
A1 Jiang, Lin
AB 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.
PB Wiley
SN 1461-023X
YR 2025
FD 2025-04
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/120713
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/120713
LA eng
NO Yan P, He N, Fernández‐Martínez M, Yang X, Zuo Y, Zhang H, Wang J, Chen S, Song J, Li G, Valencia E, Wan S, Jiang L. Plant Acquisitive Strategies Promote Resistance and Temporal Stability of Semiarid Grasslands. Ecology Letters 2025;28:e70110. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70110.
NO Funding: L.J. was supported by Georgia Tech and the US National Science Foundation (DEB-1856318). E.V. was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PID2022-140398NA-I00).
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
NO National Science Foundation (U.S.)
NO Georgia Institute of Technology
DS Docta Complutense
RD 21 ene 2026