Andean grassland stability across spatial scales increases with camelid grazing intensity despite biotic homogenization

Intensive land use and changing environmental conditions are reshaping the biodiversity, functioning and stability of local Andean grassland communities. It remains unclear whether these effects propagate to larger spatial scales that are most relevant for policy and conservation. Using a multiscale framework, we quantified the influence of grazing intensity and environmental factors on the diversity and temporal stability of productivity in Andean grassland plant communities at both the local (within communities) and larger (among neighboring communities) spatial scales. We found that higher grazing intensity and soil total nitrogen were related to greater stability at both the local (alpha stability) and larger (gamma stability) scales. Higher gamma stability at higher grazing intensity resulted from enhanced spatial asynchrony of productivity among communities despite biotic homogenization. That is, while higher grazing intensity reduced compositional differences among communities (b..., , , # Andean grassland stability across spatial scales increases with camelid grazing intensity despite biotic homogenization

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3tx95x6s6](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3tx95x6s6)

## Description of the data and file structure

The dataset allows to investigate the relationship between community stability and biodiversity, exploring the scale-dependent impact of grazing on stability across a natural gradient of biodiversity, grazing intensity and abiotic factors within the tropical grasslands of the National Park Apolobamba in northwestern Bolivia.

### Files and variables

#### File: MC\_df.csv

**Description:** 

##### Variables

* Site: Name of the seven selected study sites within the borders of the natural park Apolobamba.
* MC: Meta-community. We surveyed 105 plots across the seven study sites. Per site there are five meta-communities, each consisting of three replicated plots of 25-m2, within an area of 300 x 300 m.
* GI: Grazing intensity along a natura...