Understanding how drylands respond to ongoing environmental change is extremely important for global sustainability. Here we review how biotic attributes, climate, grazing pressure, land cover change and nitrogen deposition affect the functioning of drylands at multiple spatial scales. Our synthesis highlights the importance of biotic attributes (e.g. species richness) in maintaining fundamental ecosystem processes such as primary productivity, illustrate how N deposition and grazing pressure are impacting ecosystem functioning in drylands worldwide, and highlight the importance of the traits of woody species as drivers of their expansion in former grasslands. We also emphasize the role of attributes such as species richness and abundance in controlling the responses of ecosystem functioning to climate change. This knowledge is essential to guide conservation and restoration efforts in drylands, as biotic attributes can be actively managed at the local scale to increase ecosystem resilience to global change.

中文翻译：

---

变化世界中旱地生态系统的结构和功能

了解旱地如何应对持续的环境变化对于全球可持续发展极为重要。在这里，我们回顾了生物属性、气候、放牧压力、土地覆盖变化和氮沉降如何在多个空间尺度上影响旱地的功能。我们的综述强调了生物属性（例如物种丰富度）在维持初级生产力等基本生态系统过程中的重要性，说明了氮沉降和放牧压力如何影响全球旱地的生态系统功能，并强调了木本物种特征作为驱动因素的重要性他们在以前的草原上扩张。我们还强调了物种丰富度和丰度等属性在控制生态系统功能对气候变化的响应方面的作用。