Soil respiration of grasslands is spatio-temporally variable reflecting the changing biological activities of the soil. In our study we analysed how the long-term soil respiration activities of dry grasslands would perform in terms of resistance and resilience. We also investigated how terrain features are responsible for response stability. We conducted a 7-year-long spatial study in a Hungarian dry grassland, measuring soil respiration (Rs), soil temperature (Ts) and soil water content (SWC)

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... long 15 measuring campaigns in 80 × 60 m grids and soil organic carbon content in 6 of the occasions. Two proxy variables were introduced to grasp the overall Rs activity, as well as its temporal stability: average rankRs, the temporal average Rs rank of a measuring position from the campaigns revealed the persistent spatial pattern of Rs, while rangeRs, the range of ranks of the positions from the campaigns described the amplitude of the Rs response in time, referring to the response stability in terms of resistance or resilience. We formulated a hypothetic concept of a two-state equilibrium to describe the performance of the long-term Rs activity: Rs activity with smaller rangeRs, that is both the lower elevation positions with larger rankRs ("state I") and the higher elevation positions with smaller rankRs ("state II") correspond to an equilibrium state with several terrain attributes being responsible for the equilibrium responses. Majority of the measuring positions was belonging to none of these equilibrium states. These positions showed higher rangeRs for medium rankRs, suggesting resilience (not resistance) as a major strategy for this ecosystem.