DOI: 10.5061/dryad.dbrv15f82
title: Context-dependent impact of changes in precipitation on the stability of grassland biomass

description: Community stability plays a crucial role in ensuring the consistent
 provision of ecosystem services despite environmental changes, including
 alterations in precipitation patterns. Over the past decades, significant
 progress has been made in understanding the responses of the stability of
 grassland plant communities and underlying mechanisms, defined as the
 ratio of the temporal mean biomass to the standard deviation. However, a
 crucial knowledge gap remains regarding whether the impacts of
 precipitation on the stability of grassland biomass are contingent upon
 specific contextual factors. Here, we examined the stability of above- and
 below-ground biomass in adjacent grass- and shrub-dominated communities
 through a 7-year manipulation experiment involving seven precipitation
 levels: 20%, 40%, and 60% decreases, as well as 20%, 40%, and 60%
 increases in natural rainfall, in addition to ambient precipitation. We
 found that the stability of community biomass was influenced by three
 contextual factors including the magnitude and directionality of
 precipitation, above- and below-ground biomass, and the type of
 vegetation. In particular, higher and more intense precipitation resulted
 in higher stability of above-ground biomass in both grass- and
 shrub-dominated communities. Conversely, higher precipitation intensity
 led to decreased below-ground biomass stability in grass-dominated
 communities but increased below-ground biomass stability in
 shrub-dominated communities. Species stability and species asynchrony
 consistently played a positive role in explaining the stability of
 above-ground biomass in both grass- and shrub-dominated communities.
 However, species asynchrony negatively influenced below-ground biomass
 stability in grass-dominated communities without a comparable effect in
 shrub-dominated communities. The preeminent contribution to the total
 community biomass was identified in the stability of below-ground biomass,
 evident in both grass-dominated and shrub-dominated communities.
 Synthesis. This study highlights that while the specific effects of
 changes in precipitation may vary depending on the context, the
 fundamental processes governing biomass stability are consistent. These
 findings elucidate the desert steppe ecosystems’ adaptive response to
 precipitation variations and emphasize their pivotal role in maintaining
 ecosystem functions under climatic perturbations.
description: # Context-dependent impact of changes in precipitation on the stability of
 grassland biomass Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.dbrv15f82 * Authors: Xiangyun
 Li *
 Email: [lixiangyun19@mails.ucas.ac.cn](mailto:lixiangyun19@mails.ucas.ac.cn) * Address: num. 320 in Donggang Road, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000. * Other contributors: Xiaoan Zuo,Jingjuan Qiao, Ya Hu, Shaokun Wang, Ping Yue, Huan Cheng, Zhaobin Song, Min Chen, Yann Hautier * Organization: Urat Desert-grassland Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Science * Date created: 2024-02-21 Contributor ORCID IDs * Xiangyun Li: [https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0162-5465](https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0162-5465) Acknowledgements Funding sources: The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42071140), the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research program (2019QZKK0305), Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (2022437) and Light of West China Program of Chinese Academic of Sciences (E129050301). ## Methodological Information Methods of data collection/generation: see article for details Geographic locations of data collection: Urat Desert-grassland Research Station, Inner Mongolia, China ## Description of the data and file structure This dataset has one EXCEL. xlsx file with 1 sheet supporting the figures in the article. Description of the treatment There are 7 treatments in this dataset: three levels of decreased rainfall (-20%, -40%, and -60%), three levels of increased rainfall (+20%, +40%, and +60%), and an ambient treatment (0%). *For abbreviations of variables in the sheet | **Abbreviation** | **Description** | **Units** | | :----------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | :-------- | | TYPE | Data came from two types of vegetation: grass- dominated communities (grass) and shrub-dominated communities (shrub). | unitless | | plot | There are 84 plots in total, including 42 plots in grass- dominated communities (grass) and 42 plots in shrub-dominated communities (shrub). | unitless | | block | In the experiment, a randomized block design was utilized, comprising a total of 6 blocks, with each block containing 7 treatments. | unitless | | treatment | There are 7 treatments in this dataset: three levels of decreased rainfall (-20%, -40%, and -60%), three levels of increased rainfall (+20%, +40%, and +60%), and an ambient treatment (0%). | unitless | | precipitation | the mean precipitation of treatments during the experimental period. | mm | | AGBstability(log) | Temporal stability of above-ground biomass after log conversion | unitless | | BGBstability(log) | Temporal stability of below-ground biomass after log conversion | unitless | | CTBstability(log) | Temporal stability of community total biomass after log conversion | unitless | | species asynchrony (log) | Log converted species asynchrony. See article for details of the calculation method. | unitless | | species stability(log) | Log converted species stability. See article for details of the calculation method. | unitless | | species richness | One of the indicators of plant diversity. Species richness was defined as the total number of species observed within a 1 m² plot | unitless | | species dominance | Species dominance was calculated as the ratio of the biomass of the most dominant species to the total biomass of the plot | unitless | | CWM fast-slow | We calculated the community-weighted mean (CWM) values for four leaf traits related to leaf economic spectra (specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf carbon content, and leaf nitrogen content). Subsequently, we performed PCA analysis on these four trait CWM values and extracted one principal component as the outcome representing the balance of community traits along the fast-slow continuum. | unitless | | FD fast-slow | The functional diversity derived from four leaf traits related to the fast-slow trade-off. | unitless | | SpH | Soil pH | unitless | | SWC | Soil water content | % |