169366 20260225105429.0 doi 10.1038/s41559-025-02952-9 sideral 148232 ART-2026-148232 eng Biancari, Lucio Plant diversity enhances ecosystem resistance to increasing grazing pressure in global drylands 2026 Understanding the mechanisms that shape ecosystem resistance to increasing livestock grazing pressure, a major driver of land degradation, is essential for predicting its impacts and informing sustainable land management strategies. This issue is particularly relevant in drylands, which host half of the world’s livestock production and are highly vulnerable to desertification caused by overgrazing. Here we conduct a standardized field survey across 73 dryland sites in 25 countries to simultaneously evaluate how climatic, edaphic, vegetation and grazing-related factors influence ecosystem resistance—defined here as the capacity to maintain vegetation cover under increasing grazing pressure. We found that increasing grazing pressure reduced vegetation cover in 80% of sites, with an average decline of 35%. Plant species richness emerged as the strongest predictor of ecosystem resistance, with higher richness associated with lower vegetation cover loss. Functional trait data indicated that this positive effect was mainly explained by complementarity in trait values among plants, rather than by functional redundancy. Our results indicate that conserving plant diversity is key to strengthening ecosystem resistance and sustaining dryland functioning under intensifying grazing pressure. Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/AEI/CNS2024-154579 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/AEI/PID2022-140398NA-I00 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/647038/EU/Biological feedbacks and ecosystem resilience under global change: a new perspective on dryland desertification/BIODESERT This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No H2020 647038-BIODESERT info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess All rights reserved http://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/ info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion Oñatibia, Gastón R. Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Yoann Gross, Nicolas Yahdjian, Laura Aguiar, Martín R. Saiz, Hugo Universidad de Zaragoza Eldridge, David J. Valencia, Enrique Moreira, Xoaquín Ochoa, Victoria Gozalo, Beatriz Asensio, Sergio Plaza, César Guirado, Emilio García-Gómez, Miguel Gaitán, Juan J. Martínez-Valderrama, Jaime Mendoza, Betty J. Maestre, Fernando T. 5011 220 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. CC.Agrar.y Medio Natural Área Ecología 10 (2026), 258-266 Nature Ecology and Evolution 2397-334X 391887 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/169366/files/texto_completo.pdf Postprint info:eu-repo/date/embargoEnd/2026-07-05 2601130 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/169366/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Postprint info:eu-repo/date/embargoEnd/2026-07-05 oai:zaguan.unizar.es:169366 articulos driver 2026-02-24-14:47:38 ARTICLE