Plant defense trait responses to grazing along an aridity gradient in Inner Mongolian grasslands

Silicon (Si) and phenolics are vital players in the plant kingdom, enabling plants to combat both biotic stresses, like herbivory, and abiotic challenges, such as drought. Yet, the interplay between community-level silica and phenolic defenses in response to livestock grazing and climatic factors across large spatial scales remains underexplored. We analyzed the Si and phenolic concentrations of plant communities from 15 widely distributed sites, strategically selected along a 1700 km aridity gradient in the temperate grasslands of northern China, with livestock grazing manipulated (grazed vs. ungrazed) at each location. Our findings revealed that grazing significantly enhanced community-level silica-based defenses in less arid grasslands, mainly due to increased intraspecific Si concentration, while its impact on phenol-based defenses was minimal. Notably, as aridity increased, Si concentration surged while phenolic concentration dwindled, indicating a shift from phenol- to silica-base..., , # **README for Dataset: Plant defense Trait Responses to Grazing along an aridity gradient in Inner Mongolian Grasslands**

**Dataset:** data_defense_traits.xlsx

**Related Manuscript:** Grazing disrupts the trade-off between silica- and phenol-based plant defenses along an aridity gradient in grasslands

**Authors:** Kaicun Yan, Wen Xia, Ketao Yu, Xiaoyu Yang, Xiaomin Wang, Jianmin Wang, Yi Zhou, Xin Jing, Haiyang Zhang, Yong Jiang, Xingguo Han, Lingfei Yu

**Correspondence:** Lingfei Yu

**Repository:** Dryad Digital Repository

**1. Overview**

This dataset accompanies the manuscript titled “Grazing disrupts the trade-off between silica- and phenol-based plant defenses along an aridity gradient in grasslands” (submitted to *Functional Ecology*). Data were collected from a field study across a natural aridity gradient in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, China. The study used a paired design of grazing exclusion (fenced) versus grazing to examine how aridity and grazing interact to af...,