TESTING PREDICTIONS OF THE RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE OF VEGETATION SUBJECTED TO EXTREME EVENTS

1. We test the hypothesis that the responses of vegetation to extreme events is a function of the nutrient stress tolerance of species prese nt. The nutrient stress tolerance of a range of species was defined by a formalized procedure in which traits measured by screening in the l aboratory were synthesized using principle components analysis. 2. Res ults were then compared with the results from a large-scale field expe riment which examined the responses of five herbaceous plant communiti es in Derbyshire, UK to three extreme events (frost, drought and fire) . 3. Nutrient stress tolerance was positively correlated with resistan ce to initial damage and negatively correlated with resilience (speed of recovery). The results illustrate the use of laboratory data to pre dict the field responses of plants to extreme events and demonstrate t hat the axis from high to low nutrient stress tolerance can play an ef fective role in predicting these responses.