Plant functional traits of four functional groups across three vegetation types in the Xilin River Basin of Inner Mongolia grassland.

Abbreviations: PFGs, plant functional groups; PB, perennial bunchgrasses; PR, perennial rhizomatous grasses; PF, perennial forbs; AB, annuals and biennials; RSR, root: shoot biomass ratio; SLR, stem: leaf biomass ratio; SLA, specific leaf area; Pn, net photosynthetic rate; PNUE, photosynthetic nutrient use efficiency; δ13C, Carbon isotope ratio; SRL, specific root length; RA, reproductive allocation. *, The dominant dispersal mode for perennial rhizomatous grass (i.e., Leymus chinensis) is rhizome, with rhizome biomass accounting for 30% of the total plant biomass. P values following one-way ANOVAs indicate differences in plant functional traits among four functional groups. Different lowercases represent significant differences among plant functional groups (LSD multiple-range tests, P13C, SRL, seed mass and RA) are 5, 3, 10–21 and 8 for PB, PR, PF and AB, respectively in typical steppe.