Abstract: In the current era, global climate change significantly affects the ecosystem function and stability. One particular concern is the process of desertification phenomena and biodiversity loss in drylands. Drylands regions are characterized by a scarcity of water due to low average annual precipitation levels. In such a water-limited environment, various types of self-organizing vegetation patterns emerge. I will discuss the emergence of vegetation patchiness, as a symmetry-breaking pattern-formation phenomenon in resource-limited systems. The ecosystem response to climate change is likely to impact at different levels of ecological organizations, ranging from the plant organism level to the population level to the community level. I will discuss the complex relationship among these ecosystem levels in response to climate extremes. I will discuss how spatial patterning affects the functional biodiversity of an ecosystem and will discuss some pathways to relax the environmental stress which are essential for assessing the actual resilience of ecosystems in response to climate variability. Using the spatiotemporal mathematical model and empirical evidence, I will discuss the underlying driving mechanism of various types of spatial vegetation patterns. Environmental changes can trigger both ecological and evolutionary responses that could stabilise or destabilize the ecosystem dynamics. I will further discuss how spatial patterning and repatterning inhibit the undesired evolutionary shift in the context of the eco-evolutionary dynamics in response to environmental change. Comprehending the pathways of ecosystem response is crucial in formulating management strategies to avoid reaching tipping points.

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