Data from: Positive legacies of severe droughts in the Inner Mongolia grassland

Global change-induced extreme droughts are increasing in grasslands
worldwide, and drought legacies may greatly affect the responses
of grassland ecosystems to these changes. However, it remains poorly
understood whether and how severe droughts have a positive legacy effect
on grassland productivity. By combining a 4-year precipitation
manipulation experiment with a 40-year observational study in a semiarid
grassland, we showed that extreme droughts could create strong positive
legacies on community productivity, and that such legacies could last for
multiple years. The mechanism behind this was the coupled effect of the
drought-induced increase in annuals and the favorable precipitation
pattern that facilitated the flourishing of annuals in subsequent years.
This study provides experimental and observational evidence for novel
positive drought legacies and reveals their underlying mechanisms. Our
findings suggest that positive drought legacies should be incorporated
into Earth system models to better predict the impact of extreme droughts
on grassland ecosystems.