Ungulate herbivores promote beta diversity and drive stochastic plant community assembly by selective defoliation and trampling: From a four-year simulation experiment

Ungulate herbivores shape grassland plant communities at multiple scales, ultimately affecting ecosystem function. However, ungulates have complex effects on grasslands, including defoliation, trampling, excreta return, and their interactions. Moreover, the effects of ungulate density on grasslands are regulated by these three mechanisms. Nevertheless, how these three mechanisms affect biodiversity at multiple scales and community assembly remains poorly understood.
Here, we conducted a 4-year novel field experiment to disentangle the effects of defoliation, trampling, and excreta return by ungulates on plant community assembly in a temperate grassland in Inner Mongolia, China. This experiment set two different scenarios: moderate ungulate density (Moderate, characterised by selective defoliation and moderate trampling) and high ungulate density (Intense, characterised by non-selective defoliation and heavy trampling), including different combinations of defoliation, trampling, and excr..., , , # Ungulate herbivory promotes beta-diversity and drives stochastic plant community assembly by selective defoliation and trampling: from a four-year simulation experiment

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.p8cz8w9zz](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.p8cz8w9zz)

In each of the 4 years, we determined the cover of plants in each plot in mid-August, and based on relative cover we calculated beta-diversity, beta-deviation, and species loss/gain rates for each treatment. We determined functional traits (including SLA, LDMC, LCC, LNC, and LPC) for each species at the same time as the vegetation surveys and calculated functional diversity. Following the vegetation survey, we obtained soil samples and measured soil properties including pH, bulk density, ammonium (NH4+-N) concentration, and nitrate (NO3--N) concentration.

## Description of the data and file structure

The Excel file (20240610-Data-ungulate_herbivory.xls) contains 8 sheets:

1. Abbreviation: Meaning of abbreviations in the dataset.
2. ...

有蹄类草食动物（ungulate herbivores）可在多个尺度上塑造草原植物群落，最终对生态系统功能产生影响。然而，有蹄类对草原的影响颇为复杂，涵盖去叶作用（defoliation）、踩踏作用（trampling）、排泄物归还（excreta return）及其交互效应。此外，有蹄类种群密度对草原的影响受到上述三种作用机制的调控。但目前学界对这三种机制如何在多尺度下影响生物多样性与群落构建仍知之甚少。

本研究于中国内蒙古温带草原开展了一项为期4年的原创性野外实验，旨在厘清有蹄类的去叶、踩踏与排泄物归还作用对植物群落构建的影响。该实验设置了两种不同的处理情境：中等有蹄类密度组（Moderate，以选择性去叶与适度踩踏为特征）和高有蹄类密度组（Intense，以非选择性去叶与重度踩踏为特征），涵盖去叶、踩踏与排泄物归还的不同组合处理。
# 有蹄类采食通过选择性去叶与踩踏提升β多样性（beta-diversity）并驱动植物群落随机构建：一项为期4年的模拟实验
[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.p8cz8w9zz](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.p8cz8w9zz)

在实验的4年中，我们于每年8月中旬调查各样方的植物盖度，并基于相对盖度计算各处理组的β多样性、β偏差（beta-deviation）以及物种得失率。同期开展植被调查时，我们还测定了各物种的功能性状，包括比叶面积（SLA）、叶干物质含量（LDMC）、叶碳含量（LCC）、叶氮含量（LNC）与叶磷含量（LPC），并计算了功能多样性。植被调查结束后，我们采集土壤样品并测定了多项土壤理化性质，包括pH值、容重（bulk density）、铵态氮（NH4+-N）浓度与硝态氮（NO3--N）浓度。

## 数据与文件结构说明
本数据集的Excel文件（20240610-Data-ungulate_herbivory.xls）共包含8个工作表：
1. 缩写说明：数据集内所有缩写的含义。
2. ……