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Disturbance events such as climatic extremes may enhance the invasibility of plant communities, through the creation of gaps and the associated local increase in available resources. In this study, experimental herbaceous communities consisting of three species were subjected to 50 yr extreme drought and/or heat events, in spring, summer or autumn. In the year of the induced extremes, species mortality and end-of-season biomass were examined. In two subsequent years without further disturbances, establishment of new species was recorded. The drought and drought + heat extremes in summer and autumn induced greater plant mortality compared with the heat extremes in those seasons and compared with all extremes applied in spring, in all three originally planted species. Recovery in terms of biomass towards the end of the growing season, however, was species-specific. The dominant species, the nitrogen fixer Trifolium repens, recovered poorly from the drought and drought + heat extremes which governed the community response. Community biomass, which was heavily affected by the drought and especially by the drought + heat events in summer and autumn, reached control values already one year later. Invasibility was increased in the communities that underwent the drought + heat extremes in the first year following the extreme events, but no longer in the second year. During the two years of invasion, the community composition changed, but independently of the type and impact of the extreme event. In short, the extreme climate events greatly affected the survival and productivity of the species, modified the species composition and dominance patterns, and increased the invasibility of our plant communities. However, none of these community properties seemed to be affected in the long term, as the induced responses faded out after one or two years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the effects of warming and declining species richness on the carbon balance of grassland communities, model ecosystems containing one, three or nine species were exposed to ambient and elevated (ambient +3°C) air temperature. In this paper, we analyze measured ecosystem CO2 fluxes to test whether ecosystem photosynthesis and respiration had acclimated to warming after 28 months of continuous heating, and whether the degree of acclimation depended on species richness. At first sight, we found no signs of acclimation in photosynthesis or respiration. However, because plant cover was significantly higher in the heated treatment, normalization for plant cover revealed down-regulation of both photosynthesis and respiration. Although CO2 fluxes were larger in communities with higher species richness, species richness did not affect the degree of acclimation to warming. These results imply that models need to take into account thermal acclimation to simulate photosynthesis and respiration in a warmer world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]