Data from: Sensitivity of plant species to warming and altered precipitation dominates the community productivity in a semiarid grassland on the Loess Plateau

Global warming and changes in precipitation patterns can critically
influence the structure and productivity of terrestrial ecosystems.
However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. We conducted
two independent but complementary experiments (one with warming and
precipitation manipulation (+ or – 30%) and another with selective plant
removal) in a semi-arid grassland on the Loess Plateau, northwestern China
to assess how warming and altered precipitation affect plant community.
Our results showed that warming and altered precipitation affected
community aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) through impacting
soil moisture. Results of the removal experiment showed competitive
relationships among dominant grasses, dominant semi-shrub and non-dominant
species, which played a more important role than soil moisture in the
response of plant community to warming and altered precipitation.
Precipitation addition intensified the competition but primarily benefited
dominant semi-shrubs. Warming and precipitation reduction enhanced water
stresses but increased ANPP of dominant semi-shrubs and grasses,
indicating that plant tolerance to drought critically meditated the
community responses. These findings suggest that specie competitivity for
water resources as well as tolerance to environmental stresses may
dominate the responses of plant communities on the Loess Plateaus to
future climate change factors.