Global grassland productivity and carbon storage benefit from functional diversity under climate change

The ecosystem services of managed grasslands and rangelands depend strongly on the diversity of plant traits within these ecosystems. This “functional diversity” influences their productivity as well as resistance and resilience against climate change. Yet, global vegetation models commonly only distinguish C3 and C4 plant functional types and do not explicitly consider the role of functional diversity in managed grasslands and rangelands. We provide a global-scale assessment that shows the importance of functional diversity to maintain productivity and soil organic carbon stocks of managed grassland and rangelands under climate change. Despite our simplified functional diversity approach, this highlights the need to account for functional diversity when conducting climate impact research as well as designing respective policies.