Differential roles of species richness versus species asynchrony in regulating community stability along a precipitation gradient.

ABSTRACT: Plant community may provide products and services to humans. However, patterns and drivers of community stability along a precipitation gradient remain unclear. A regional-scale transect survey was conducted over a 3-year period from 2013 to 2015, along a precipitation gradient from 275 to 555 mm and spanning 440 km in length from west to east in a temperate semiarid grassland of northern China, a central part of the Eurasian steppe. Our study provided regional-scale evidence that the community stability increased with increasing precipitation in the semiarid ecosystem. The patterns of community stability along a precipitation gradient were ascribed to community composition and community dynamics, such as species richness and species asynchrony, rather than the abiotic effect of precipitat

SUBMITTER: Chi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6953564 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature