Resistance of ecosystem services to global change weakened by increasing number of environmental stressors

Abstract

Terrestrial ecosystems are subjected to multiple global changes simultaneously. Yet, how an increasing number of global changes impact the resistance of ecosystems to global change remains virtually unknown. Here we present a global synthesis including 14,000 observations from seven ecosystem services (functions and biodiversity), as well as data from a 15-year field experiment. We found that the resistance of multiple ecosystem services to global change declines with an increasing number of global change factors, particularly after long-term exposure to these factors. Biodiversity had a higher resistance to multiple global changes compared with ecosystem functions. Our work suggests that we need to consider the combined effects of multiple global changes on the magnitude and resistance of ecosystem services worldwide, as ecosystem responses will be enhanced by the number of environmental stressors and time of exposure. Increasing the number of global changes reduces the resistance of ecosystem services worldwide, according to an analysis of global available observational data and field experiments.