Global change pressures are highlighting the need to better understand the mechanisms driving the temporal stability of natural communities under different environmental conditions. There is ample evidence that species richness helps communities to withstand environmental fluctuations and stabilise over time. However, it is still debated whether richness promotes stability through the diversity of species functional traits, phylogenetic lineages, and ecological strategies in the community or because of the likelihood of including stable species. Further, it is unclear whether the positive effect of diversity on stability is maintained in conditions of strong environmental fluctuations (e.g. frequent disturbances and stress). 

To address these questions, we analysed long-term monitoring data of 84 permanent plots in coastal dune plant communities distributed along a gradient of natural stress and disturbance, with communities closer to the sea subject to greater stress and more frequent disturbances. Specifically, we used structural equation models to disentangle the relative influence of the environmental gradient and the different diversity components (species richness, functional and phylogenetic diversity; SR, FD, and PD), as well as of the dominant ecological strategy (captured by species lifespan) on community stability, through their effect on two key stability mechanisms (population stability and species asynchrony).