Spatio-temporal observations of topsoil organic matter, plant communities and vegetation biomass, in permanent grassland ecosystems of the Massif-central

Permanent grasslands deliver key ecosystem services (ES) notably through forage production, soil organic matter (SOM) storage and nutrient cycling. However, these semi-natural ecosystems are increasingly threatened by global changes, including climate variability and management intensification, which jointly affect structure (e.g., plant community assembly and diversity) and function (e.g., soil carbon cycle, forage production). Despite remaining knowledge gaps, long-term, spatially explicit datasets integrating multiple ES – such as aboveground biomass production, plant community properties and soil organic matter dynamics across environmental gradients – remain scarce. Here, we present a comprehensive dataset collected between 2006 and 2022 across the Massif-central region (France), encompassing 85 permanent grassland fields under contrasting pedoclimatic conditions and management practices. These include fertilization type (mineral or organic) and intensity (from high inputs to no fertilization), as well as grassland use (mowing, grazing, mixed use, or abandonment), complemented by climate variables describing temperature and hydric regimes. The dataset includes direct and indirect ES indicators, such as vegetation surveys and plant morphological trait data related to growth and nutrient acquisition strategies. It also integrates forage production indicators (i.e., quantity and quality), and soil properties, focusing on SOM variables (i.e., total carbon and nitrogen content, and fractionated soil organic matter pools) and associated physico-chemical parameters. This long-term, multi-dimensional dataset provides robust local references to investigate linkages between environmental drivers, plant community properties, and soil functioning. Beyond regional applications, the dataset is interoperable with global ecosystem structure–function frameworks, supporting comparative analyses of grassland ecosystem services and dynamics under ongoing global change.