Effects of Climate Change on Grassland Biodiversity

There is increasing evidence that the impact of climate change on the productivity of 9 grasslands will at least partly depend on their biodiversity. A high level of biodiversity may confer 10 stability to grassland ecosystems against environmental change, but there are also direct effects of 11 biodiversity on the quantity and quality of grassland productivity. To explain the manifold 12 interactions, and to predict future climatic responses, models may be used. However, models 13 designed for studying the interaction between biodiversity and productivity tend to be structurally 14 different from models for studying the effects of climatic impacts. Here we review the literature on 15 the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and productivity of grasslands. We first discuss the 16 availability of data for model development. Then we analyse strengths and weaknesses of three 17 types of model: ecological, process-based and integrated. We discuss the merits of this model 18 diversity and the scope for merging different model types. 19