An experimental test of trait-based restoration to achieve drought tolerance and invasion resistance in two grasslands

Drought and invasive species are threats to primary productivity in grassland ecosystems worldwide. A central challenge in ecological restoration is establishing plant communities that can withstand these abiotic and biotic stressors. We tested the efficacy of a trait-based framework for enhancing drought tolerance and invasion resistance in experimental restorations of contrasting grassland systems, a perennial mixed-grass prairie in Wyoming, and an annual interior grassland in California. Each experiment included four trait-based seeding treatments: drought-tolerant, invasion-resistant, functionally diverse, and a random control. All seeded communities were subjected to extreme precipitation reduction (-50 % annual) and invasion by non-native annual grasses. We asked two questions: (1) Can we establish communities from seed that meet and maintain these desired trait-based targets? (2) Did the trait-based seeding treatments tolerate extreme precipitation reduction or resist invasion by...,
Site Descriptions
In Wyoming, the restoration experiment occurred on a topographically flat crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum) pasture at the USDA Agricultural Research Service High Plains Grassland Research Station near Cheyenne, WY (latitude 41.1776 °N, longitude -104.8983 °W; 1900 m elevation, 370 mm mean annual precipitation, 6 °C mean annual temperature). We prepared the site (0.6 acres total area) for restoration by spraying glyphosate in September 2018 and again in May 2019 to kill the existing vegetation. Sixty-four experimental blocks (each 1.5 m x 3.7 m) were established in a grid.
In California, we established this restoration experiment at the University of California South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine, CA (latitude 33.683 °N, longitude -117.717 °W; 125m elevation, 365 mm mean annual precipitation, 17.5 °C mean annual temperature). The site (one acre total area) consisted of fifteen experimental rainfall manipulation structures (3 m (w) x 7.3 m (..., # Data from: An experimental test of trait-based restoration to achieve drought tolerance and invasion resistance in two grasslands

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.prr4xgz2j](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.prr4xgz2j)

## Description of the data and file structure

An experimental test of trait-based methods for ecological restoration.

These data and code were used to produce the analysis and figures in the associated manuscript, where we tested a trait-based framework for designing seed mixes for ecological restoration in two distinct grassland types -- annual California grassland and mixed-grass prairie in Wyoming. Based on analyses of compositional dissimilarities, we found that trait-based restoration targets were more difficult to maintain in an annual-dominant grassland than in a perennial-dominant one, and targets composed of multiple community-weighted mean traits were more difficult to meet than targets that maximized functional diversity. In both grasslands, plant communities wit..., ,