Species and functional group asynchrony maintain the seasonal temporal stability of a temperate grassland plant community in Inner Mongolia, China

Temporal stability is a fundamental characteristic of grasslands, many of which are experiencing increased climate change and variability. Nevertheless, the influence of these climatic changes, particularly seasonal variability, on grassland stability is still poorly understood. We conducted a 29-year monitoring experimental study in a temperate grassland to explore how seasonal climate variability affect community biomass temporal stability. We used regression analysis and structural equation modeling to examine the effects of climatic and biotic factors affected on community seasonal temporal stability. We found that increased seasonal climate variability (temperature and precipitation) reduced community temporal stability by reducing species richness, suggesting that increased climate variability has a negative impact on ecosystem functioning. In addition, community temporal stability was mainly affected by species asynchrony, functional group asynchrony and dominant species stability. Under climate change, functional group asynchrony had the strongest contribution to community compensation dynamics and community stability. Based on a long-term study spanning 29 years of observational experiments, our findings demonstrate the importance of species and functional group asynchrony to stabilize grassland functioning against increasing climate variability.