Interactive impacts of grazing pressure and climatic context on plant functional diversity and ecosystem structure

The article from Scientific Reports examines the combined effects of grazing pressure and climatic context on plant functional diversity and ecosystem structure in a protected mountainous rangeland in southeastern Iran. The study used a trait-based framework to assess how grazing intensity interacts with different climatic zones to influence taxonomic composition, functional diversity, trait composition, and vegetation structure.

The results showed that grazing intensity significantly impacted plant communities, with taxonomic composition varying across climatic zones and grazing intensities (PERMANOVA, p < 0.001). The interaction between grazing and climate revealed context-dependent compositional turnover, indicating that grazing selectively reorganized dominant ecological strategies within climate-specific assemblages.

While functional richness increased with grazing in cooler and more mesic zones, it remained constrained in hotter, more arid environments. Functional evenness and divergence were comparatively stable across the grazing gradient. Vegetation cover responded strongly to grazing, although the magnitude and direction of these responses varied among climatic zones.

The findings support a hierarchical assembly framework, with climate establishing the primary template for community organization and grazing acting as a secondary, context-dependent filter modifying species composition and trait dominance patterns. The study emphasizes the importance of accounting for climatic context when predicting grazing impacts and designing adaptive management strategies in heterogeneous dryland landscapes.

Brief written by urgent.news from Scientific Reports's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.