Data to the paper “The response of litter decomposition to extreme drought modified by plant species, plant part, and soil depth in a temperate grassland” by Seres et al. Ecology and Evolution (2022)

Study Description In this paper, we studied the effect of an extreme (5-month) experimental drought on litter decomposition, and if this effect varies with two dominant perennial grass species (Festuca vaginata and Stipa borysthenica), plant parts (leaves vs. roots), and soil depths (0–5 cm vs. 10–15 cm) in a semi-arid temperate grassland. We also examined the initial litter quality of leaves and roots of the two species. File Descriptions This file collection contains two data files that support the results presented in the paper: Litter_decomposition_data.xlsx Litter_quality_data.xlsx Litter_decomposition_data.xlsx file contains the litter decomposition data that we collected in the field experiment (Data sheet), and the explanation of the data (Data description sheet). Litter_quality_data.xlsx file contains the initial carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content, and the C:N ratio of the litter (C and N data sheet), the initial hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin content of the litter (Fibre data sheet), and the explanation of the data (Data description sheet).