Advances in Biology & Earth Sciences

This study examines statistical relationships between biodiversity structure and ecosystem functional indicators under climate variability conditions using an integrated empirical, spatial and modeling-based framework. The analysis indicates statistically significant positive associations between biodiversity metrics - including species richness, functional diversity and the Shannon diversity index - and key ecosystem functional variables such as primary productivity (NPP), soil organic carbon storage (SOC) and moisture index (MI). Within the analyzed regional dataset, functional diversity demonstrated the strongest statistical association with ecosystem stability indicators (r = 0.81, p < 0.001), consistent with previously reported Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function (BEF) relationships. Climate variability indicators were statistically associated with biodiversity changes. On average, a 1°C increase in temperature anomaly was associated with an approximate 4.5% decline in the Shannon diversity index. These relationships should be interpreted as regional-scale statistical associations rather than direct causal ecological responses. The results suggest that biodiversity functionality and ecosystem service interactions may represent important components associated with ecosystem resilience under climate variability. The integrated regional analysis of biodiversity structure, spatial ecosystem risk patterns and climate variability contributes to the quantitative understanding of BEF-climate interactions in heterogeneous South Caucasus ecosystems. These findings may provide supporting scientific evidence for ecosystem management research, biodiversity conservation planning and climate adaptation studies under regional environmental conditions.