Seasonal community stability increased with water addition and shrub removal but reduced with nitrogen addition in semi-arid grassland

1. Stability is a useful indicator of the functioning and sustainability of an ecosystem, and many studies have explored the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on the inter-annual stability of plant communities. However, the effects of multiple anthropogenic stressors on seasonal community stability have not been clearly elucidated, especially for vulnerable semi-arid grasslands.
2. During the growing season in the 5th year of the experiment, we determined how nitrogen (N) addition, water addition, and shrub removal altered seasonal community stability in a semi-arid grassland dominated by the shrub Caragana microphylla on the Mongolian Plateau.
3. We found that shrub removal, N addition, and water addition had different effects on the stability of the community and plant functional groups (PFGs). Shrub removal increased seasonal community stability mostly via increases in the stability of perennial forbs and C4 plants, and shrub removal did not alter the effects of N addition or wate..., ,