DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1bm144m
title: Data from: SRUD: a simple non-destructive method for accurate quantification of plant diversity dynamics

description: 1. Predicting changes in plant diversity in response to human activities
 represents one of the major challenges facing ecologists and land managers
 striving for sustainable ecosystem management. Classical field studies
 have emphasized the importance of community primary productivity in
 regulating changes in plant species richness. However, experimental
 studies have yielded inconsistent empirical evidence, suggesting that
 primary productivity is not the sole determinant of plant diversity.
 Recent work has shown that more accurate predictions of changes in species
 diversity can be achieved by combining measures of species' cover and
 height into an index of Space Resource Utilization (SRU). While the SRU
 approach provides reliable predictions, it is time-consuming and requires
 extensive taxonomic expertise. Ecosystem processes and plant community
 structure are likely driven primarily by dominant species (mass-ratio
 effect). Within communities, it is likely that dominant and rare species
 have opposite contributions to overall biodiversity trends. We therefore
 suggest that better species richness predictions can be achieved by
 utilizing SRU assessments of only the dominant species (SRUD), as compared
 to SRU or biomass of the entire community. 2. Here, we assess the ability
 of these measures to predict changes in plant diversity as driven by
 nutrient addition and herbivore exclusion. First, we tested our hypotheses
 by carrying out a detailed analysis in an alpine grassland that measured
 all species within the community. Next, we assessed the broader
 applicability of our approach by measuring the first three dominant
 species for five additional experimental grassland sites across a wide
 geographic and habitat range. 3. We show that SRUD outperforms community
 biomass, as well as community SRU, in predicting biodiversity dynamics in
 response to nutrients and herbivores in an alpine grassland. Across our
 additional sites, SRUD yielded far better predictions of changes in
 species richness than community biomass, demonstrating the robustness and
 generalizable nature of this approach. 4. Synthesis. The SRUD approach
 provides a simple, non-destructive and more accurate means to monitor and
 predict the impact of global change drivers and management interventions
 on plant communities, thereby facilitating efforts to maintain and recover
 plant diversity.
description: azi.cn_height_cover_biomass_dataData were collected in azi.cn (one site of Nutrient Network) during the 5th year of nutrient addition and/or herbivore exclusion. Abbreviated headlines are as follows: "trt" = treatment; "N" = N addition; "P" = P addition; "K" = K addition; "NP" = N & P addition; "PK" = P & K addition; "NK" = N & K addition; "NPK" = N & P & K addition; " latin_name" = species latin name.5_sites_height_cover_SRU_biomass_richness_dataData were collected in 5 sites of Nutrient Network (azi.cn, cbgb.us, frue.ch, sgs.us, shps.us) during the 3-5th year of nutrient addition and/or herbivore exclusion. Abbreviated headlines are as follows: "trt" = treatment; "N" = N addition; "P" = P addition; "K" = K addition; "NP" = N & P addition; "PK" = P & K addition; "NK" = N & K addition; "NPK" = N & P & K addition; "latin_name" = species latin name; "live_mass" = living biomass in each plot.