Grazing regulates temperate grassland multidimensional stability facing extreme winter snowfall reductions by influencing below-ground bud density
Data files
Jan 31, 2025 version files 72.23 KB
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20250118-JEC-dataset.xls
67.58 KB
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README.md
4.64 KB
Abstract
Global climate changes increased the frequency of snowfall reduction events in the Northern Hemisphere, consequently suppressing plant productivity. Grazing, the most widespread use of grasslands, influences productivity in response to climatic extremes by shaping community structure. Since grazing could disrupt normal plant growth and reproduction, rest from grazing at various stages of the growing season may have different effects on above- and below-ground community properties. However, how grazing or grazing rest at different stages of growing season affects grassland stability when facing extreme snowfall reduction remains unclear. We investigated the multidimensional stability (resistance, resilience, recovery, and temporal stability) of above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) under a time-dependent strategic-rest grazing practice (rest in early, peak, and late growing stage) experiment, during which a natural extreme snowfall reduction event occurred. We also assessed plant richness, dominance, asynchrony, key functional group stability, and below-ground bud density to explore the mechanisms underlying multidimensional stability. We found that extreme snowfall reduction significantly decreased grassland ANPP under all grazing practices. However, grazing with short-term rest during the peak growing stage significantly enhanced ANPP, improved resistance and recovery from extreme snowfall reduction, and consequently greatly improved the temporal stability compared to continuous grazing. In contrast, the grazing rest during the early and late growing stages did not improve temporal stability of ANPP. Meanwhile, resilience was not affected by grazing practices. The benefits of peak rest primarily arise from allowing the formation of sufficient below-ground buds before and after extreme events. Notably, changes in community properties (such as diversity or asynchrony) resulting from the rest were not correlated with resistance and recovery. Additionally, the increases in grass bud density from the peak rest indirectly contributed to temporal stability by enhancing the stability of perennial rhizome grass and preserving community composition.
Synthesis: These findings underscore the essential role of plant below-ground buds in sustaining stable grassland productivity in response to snowfall reduction and also suggest that grassland management strategies should account for the protection of plant asexual reproductive organs, which contributes to grassland sustainability in the face of future climate change.
README: Grazing regulates temperate grassland multidimensional stability facing extreme winter snowfall reductions by influencing below-ground bud density
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gqnk98sz6
Description of the data and file structure
We investigated the multidimensional stability (resistance, recovery, and temporal stability) of above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) under a time-dependent strategic-rest grazing practice (rest in early, peak, and late growing stage) experiment, during which a natural extreme snowfall reduction event occurred. We also assessed plant richness, dominance, asynchrony, key functional group stability, and below-ground bud density to explore the mechanisms underlying multidimensional stability.
This dataset consists of three subsets: 1) ANPP resistance and its possible predictors; 2) ANPP recovery and its possible predictors; and 3) ANPP temporal stability and its possible predictors
Files and variables
File: 20250118-JEC-dataset.xls
Description:
Variables
Dataset-Resistance:
Abbreviation | Units | Note |
---|---|---|
richness | Number of species per square meter | speices richness (average of 2018 and 2019) |
dominance | Unitless | Simpson's dominance index (average of 2018 and 2019) |
PR_res | Unitless | resistance of perennial rhizome grass (PR) |
asynchrony | Unitless | asynchrony for resistance |
comp_res | Unitless | resistance of community composition |
Bud_grass_pre | Buds per square meter (buds/m²) | soil bud density of grass before extreme snowfall reduction event |
resistance | Unitless | resistance of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) |
Dataset-Recovery:
Abbreviation | Units | Note |
---|---|---|
richness | Number of species per square meter | speices richness (average of 2018 and 2020) |
dominance | Unitless | Simpson's dominance index (average of 2018 and 2020) |
PR_rec | Unitless | recovery of perennial rhizome grass (PR) |
asynchrony | Unitless | asynchrony for recovery |
comp_rec | Unitless | recovery of community composition |
Bud_grass_post | Buds per square meter (buds/m²) | soil bud density of grass after extreme snowfall reduction event |
recovery | Unitless | recovery of ANPP |
Dataset-TS:
Abbreviation | Units | Note |
---|---|---|
richness | Number of species per square meter | speices richness (average of 2018, 2019, and 2020) |
dominance | Unitless | Simpson's dominance index (average of 2018, 2019, and 2020) |
PR_TS | Unitless | temporal stability of perennial rhizome grass (PR) |
asynchrony | Unitless | asynchrony (2018-2020) |
comp_TS | Unitless | community composition (2018-2020) |
Bud_grass_average | Buds per square meter (buds/m²) | average of grass bud densities before and after the extreme events |
TS | Unitless | temporal stability of ANPP |
Code/software
This dataset does not contain software.