Two studies, carried out by researchers from the CNRS in collaboration with German and Chinese scientists and published in the journals Global Change Biology and PNAS on March 18, highlight the importance of biodiversity in protecting ecosystems in the face of harsh climatic conditions. They show that fostering biodiversity in forests mitigates the effects of climate change on crucial processes such as carbon and nitrogen recycling, essential to the proper functioning of ecosystems. Researchers have demonstrated that plant diversity reduces extreme temperature variations, thereby promoting ecological processes such as decomposition. These findings underline the importance of preserving species diversity in the management of ecosystems, particularly forests, to better protect them against the effects of global warming.