Plant adaptive strategies respond to environmental change across European grassland habitats
Abstract
Grassland ecosystems are facing rapid and ongoing change driven by intensified land‐use and accelerated climate change, highlighting the urgent need to understand their potential adaptation and response to environmental change. We analyzed data from 52 980 vegetation plots spanning all major grassland habitats in Europe (including alpine, rocky, sandy, saline, dry, mesic and wet grasslands). We quantified competitive (C), stress‐tolerant (S), and ruderal (R) strategies for 7858 plant species based on key functional traits and mapped the spatial patterns of C‐, S‐ and R‐strategies across European grasslands. Using random forest models, we evaluated the relative importance of environmental factors in shaping these patterns and explored potential changes in the distribution of C‐, S‐ and R‐strategies under future climate scenarios. We further investigated how these strategies and their environmental drivers vary across grassland habitats. Our results revealed a clear biogeographical gradient in the distribution of C‐, S‐ and R‐strategies from predominantly stress‐tolerant strategies in Mediterranean grasslands to greater representation of competitive and ruderal strategies in temperate regions. Climate and soil factors emerged as major drivers shaping these patterns at the continental scale. Projected responses to future climate change varied among regions: grasslands in the Atlantic and Continental regions were projected to decrease in C‐strategy and increase in both S‐ and R‐strategy representation, whereas grasslands in Arctic and boreal regions exhibited contrasting trends. Mediterranean grasslands were projected to undergo a transition from mainly R‐strategy toward S‐strategy species predominance. Furthermore, the strategy patterns and their key drivers differed among grassland habitats, with patterns largely reflecting habitat‐specific environmental constraints. This study demonstrates the utility of Grime's CSR framework for characterizing broad‐scale patterns of plant adaptive strategies across diverse grassland habitats. It highlights region‐ and habitat‐specific differences in potential responses to future climate change, with implications for targeted grassland management and restoration.
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BibTeX
@article{tan2026plant,
title = {{Plant adaptive strategies respond to environmental change across European grassland habitats}},
author = {Xiao‐peng Tan and Petr Pyšek and Milan Chytrý and Irena Axmanová and Jan Divíšek and Ilona Knollová and Svetlana Aćić and Idoia Biurrun and Hans Henrik Bruun and Jürgen Dengler and Tetiana Dziuba and Emmanuel Garbolino and Attila Lengyel and Jonathan Roger Michel Henri Lenoir and Ricarda Pätsch and Aaron Pérez‐ Haase and Valerijus Rašomavičius and Eszter Ruprecht and Urban Šilc and Kiril Vassilev and Yi‐jun Wang and Wen‐yong Guo},
journal = {Ecography},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1002/ecog.08334},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05799791v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Plant adaptive strategies respond to environmental change across European grassland habitats
AU - Xiao‐peng Tan
AU - Petr Pyšek
AU - Milan Chytrý
AU - Irena Axmanová
AU - Jan Divíšek
AU - Ilona Knollová
AU - Svetlana Aćić
AU - Idoia Biurrun
AU - Hans Henrik Bruun
AU - Jürgen Dengler
AU - Tetiana Dziuba
AU - Emmanuel Garbolino
AU - Attila Lengyel
AU - Jonathan Roger Michel Henri Lenoir
AU - Ricarda Pätsch
AU - Aaron Pérez‐ Haase
AU - Valerijus Rašomavičius
AU - Eszter Ruprecht
AU - Urban Šilc
AU - Kiril Vassilev
AU - Yi‐jun Wang
AU - Wen‐yong Guo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/21
JO - Ecography
DO - 10.1002/ecog.08334
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05799791v1
AB - Grassland ecosystems are facing rapid and ongoing change driven by intensified land‐use and accelerated climate change, highlighting the urgent need to understand their potential adaptation and response to environmental change. We analyzed data from 52 980 vegetation plots spanning all major grassland habitats in Europe (including alpine, rocky, sandy, saline, dry, mesic and wet grasslands). We quantified competitive (C), stress‐tolerant (S), and ruderal (R) strategies for 7858 plant species based on key functional traits and mapped the spatial patterns of C‐, S‐ and R‐strategies across European grasslands. Using random forest models, we evaluated the relative importance of environmental factors in shaping these patterns and explored potential changes in the distribution of C‐, S‐ and R‐strategies under future climate scenarios. We further investigated how these strategies and their environmental drivers vary across grassland habitats. Our results revealed a clear biogeographical gradient in the distribution of C‐, S‐ and R‐strategies from predominantly stress‐tolerant strategies in Mediterranean grasslands to greater representation of competitive and ruderal strategies in temperate regions. Climate and soil factors emerged as major drivers shaping these patterns at the continental scale. Projected responses to future climate change varied among regions: grasslands in the Atlantic and Continental regions were projected to decrease in C‐strategy and increase in both S‐ and R‐strategy representation, whereas grasslands in Arctic and boreal regions exhibited contrasting trends. Mediterranean grasslands were projected to undergo a transition from mainly R‐strategy toward S‐strategy species predominance. Furthermore, the strategy patterns and their key drivers differed among grassland habitats, with patterns largely reflecting habitat‐specific environmental constraints. This study demonstrates the utility of Grime's CSR framework for characterizing broad‐scale patterns of plant adaptive strategies across diverse grassland habitats. It highlights region‐ and habitat‐specific differences in potential responses to future climate change, with implications for targeted grassland management and restoration.
SN - 1600-0587
ER -