Data from: Positive legacies of severe droughts in the Inner Mongolia grassland
Data files
Nov 24, 2022 version files 20.28 KB
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README.md
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Science_Advances_(add6249)_data.xlsx
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Apr 08, 2026 version files 20.32 KB
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README.md
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Science_Advances_(add6249)_data.xlsx
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Abstract
Global change-induced extreme droughts are increasing in grasslands worldwide, and drought legacies may greatly affect the responses of grassland ecosystems to these changes. However, it remains poorly understood whether and how severe droughts have a positive legacy effect on grassland productivity. By combining a 4-year precipitation manipulation experiment with a 40-year observational study in a semiarid grassland, we showed that extreme droughts could create strong positive legacies on community productivity, and that such legacies could last for multiple years. The mechanism behind this was the coupled effect of the drought-induced increase in annuals and the favorable precipitation pattern that facilitated the flourishing of annuals in subsequent years. This study provides experimental and observational evidence for novel positive drought legacies and reveals their underlying mechanisms. Our findings suggest that positive drought legacies should be incorporated into Earth system models to better predict the impact of extreme droughts on grassland ecosystems.
This study included a 4-year precipitation manipulation experiment with a 40-year observational study in a semiarid grassland, the species in each plot were classified into two functional groups, perennials and annuals. Sheet 1 is the research data from long-term obesrvations, the observation lasts 40 years (1980-2019, year column in sheet 1). In each year, growing season precipitation, growing season precipitation in early stage (May and June), growing season precipitation in middle stage (July and August), aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), ANPP of perennials, ANPP of annuals are provided as each column in sheet 1. Sheet 2 is the research data from the precipitation gradient experiment, the experiment last from 2017 to 2019 (year column in sheet 2) include nine precipitatin levels (treatment column in sheet 2). ANPP, ANPP of annuals, ANPP of perennials, density of annuals, density of perennials are provided as each column in sheet 2.
Densities of perennials and annuals data are used in the research, related data in 2019 are not used and presented as "null".
Experimental procedures and results are contextualized in main text.
Note: A minor copy-paste error was identified in the ANPP data for the 275 mm precipitation treatment in 2017 in the originally deposited dataset. The total ANPP values for this treatment were inadvertently duplicated from the 200 mm precipitation treatment. The dataset was updated with corrected values in April 2026.
Changes after Nov 24, 2022: A minor copy-paste error was identified in the ANPP data for the 275 mm precipitation treatment in 2017 in the originally deposited dataset. The total ANPP values for this treatment were inadvertently duplicated from the 200 mm precipitation treatment. The dataset was updated with corrected values in April 2026.
- Sun, Jiamei; Liu, Wei; Pan, Qingmin et al. (2022). Positive legacies of severe droughts in the Inner Mongolia grassland. Science Advances. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add6249