Biomass, species richness and environmental data from all three regions of the Biodiversity Exploratories, 2020-2021, used in: "Biomass removal promotes plant diversity after short-term extensification of managed grasslands"

Here we test an hypothesis involving proposed effects of fertilization and biomass removal (by mowing/grazing) on plant biodiversity (here species richness and Shannon diversity). Specifically, we aim to distinguish between direct and indirect effects of fertilization on plant biodiversity, and how biomass removal due to mowing/grazing mediates these pathways. We thus aim to understand how different drivers of land-use extensification may, or may not, promote plant biodiversity. To address these questions, we used data from a full factorial experiment, replicated within managed grasslands in three regions in Germany. We compare the effects of land-use drivers crossing fertilization with a combined treatment of biomass removal (mowing/grazing treatment): (a) fertilized biomass removal (in LUX: EP-C), (b) unfertilized biomass removal (in LUX: UP-C), (c) unfertilized reduced biomass removal (in LUX: RP-C) and (d) fertilized reduced biomass removal (in LUX: RP-F). In particular, we tested the following hypotheses: (1) Fertilization will cause plant species richness and Shannon diversity to decline, both directly and indirectly, by altering light competition due to increased biomass production and thereby increased standing biomass. (2) Biomass removal partly compensates for the negative effects of fertilization on species richness and Shannon diversity, by decreasing levels of standing biomass and thereby reducing light competition or changing the competitive dominance of plant species.br /In order to do so, we performed vegetation records and estimated standing biomass using a rising plate-meter in all grassland EPs and in the new experiments (LUX: EP-C, RP-C, RP-F, UP-C), in the spring and summer season (April to May and July to August respectively) in 2020 and 2021. In each plot (7 x 7 m) we were assigned to a 1 x 1 m subplot, in which we estimated the species specific cover of each plant species (in percent). Furthermore, we measured standing biomass using a rising plate meter with 4 replicates per subplot. The data collection was part of the project BEF-Loops within the framework of the DFG-funded joint project Biodiversity Exploratories (https://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de).br /Important note!br /This data set is a processed version for the paper "Biomass removal promotes plant diversity after short-term extensification of managed grasslands (Andraczek et al.)". This data derived from other raw data sets (ID 31203, ID 31204 and data from LUI Tool based on ID 25086).