Warming stabilizes alpine ecosystem facing extreme rainfall events by changing plant species composition

Abstract

Abstract Climate warming and extreme climatic events are threatening ecosystem processes and functions. However, it remains unclear how climate warming changes ecosystem stability in facing extreme rainfall events. Here, we investigated the temporal stability of above‐ground net primary productivity (ANPP) in an alpine meadow via a 5‐year warming experiment, during which two flooding events occurred, in an alpine meadow. We first found that warming significantly increased the temporal stability of ANPP in facing flooding events by increasing resistance to and decreasing recovery from flooding events. Second, we found that warming shifted the plant community structure by increasing the dominance of grasses and reducing species richness and asynchrony. Last, we detected the higher temporal stability of ANPP under warming, which was mainly ascribed to the warming‐induced increase in dominant species stability (Deschampsia caespitosa). Synthesis. These findings indicate that climate warming may mitigate the shock of flooding events on the temporal stability of community productivity via altering plant community structure in alpine grasslands. Our study highlights that to buffer ecosystems from climatic extremes, we should focus on promoting the maintenance or selection of dominant species rather than only focusing on increasing species richness.