AbstractSoil 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 (R_s), soil temperature (T_s) and soil water content (SWC) along 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 R_s activity, as well as its temporal stability: average rankR_s, the temporal average R_s rank of a measuring position from the campaigns revealed the persistent spatial pattern of R_s, while rangeR_s, the range of ranks of the positions from the campaigns described the amplitude of the R_s 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 R_s activity: R_s activity with smaller rangeR_s, that is both the lower elevation positions with larger rankR_s (“state I”) and the higher elevation positions with smaller rankR_s (“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 rangeR_s for medium rankR_s, suggesting resilience (not resistance) as a major strategy for this ecosystem.