ArticleBMC ecology and evolution2021
Drought of early time in growing season decreases community aboveground biomass, but increases belowground biomass in a desert steppe.
Article in BMC ecology and evolution, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Diverging impacts of precipitation change on aboveground and belowground ecosystem functioning in a desert steppe.BMC ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Divergent mechanisms governing aboveground biomass in desert plants across a drought gradient.iScience · 2026Article
- Oasis or trap: Divergent survival strategies of two desert herbs under shrub fertile islands.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Resistance of shallow soil carbon to both short-term isolated and recurrent droughts in two semi-arid grasslands.Oecologia · 2026Article
- Article
- Interactive effects of UV radiation and water deficit on production characteristics in upland grassland and their estimation by proximity sensing.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- The significance of biomass allocation to population growth of the invasive species Ambrosia artemisiifolia and Ambrosia trifida with different densities.BMC ecology and evolution · 2021Article
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9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIncreasing drought induced by global climate changes is altering the structure and function of grassland ecosystems. However, there is a lack of understanding of how drought affects the trade-off of above- and belowground biomass in desert steppe. We conducted a four-year (2015-2018) drought experiment to examine the responses of community above-and belowground biomass (AGB and BGB) to manipulated drought and natural drought in the early period of growing season (from March to June) in a desert steppe. We compared the associations of drought with species diversity (species richness and density), community-weighted means (CWM) of five traits, and soil factors (soil Water, soil carbon content, and soil nitrogen content) for grass communities. Meanwhile, we used the structural equation modeling (SEM) to elucidate whether drought affects AGB and BGB by altering species diversity, functional traits, or soil factors.
resultsWe found that manipulated drought affected soil water content, but not on soil carbon and nitrogen content. Experimental drought reduced the species richness, and species modified the CWM of traits to cope with a natural drought of an early time in the growing season. We also found that the experimental and natural drought decreased AGB, while natural drought increased BGB. AGB was positively correlated with species richness, density, CWM of plant height, and soil water. BGB was negatively correlated with CWM of plant height, CWM of leaf dry matter content, and soil nitrogen content, while was positively correlated with CWM of specific leaf area, CWM of leaf nitrogen content, soil water, and soil carbon content. The SEM results indicated that the experimental and natural drought indirectly decreased AGB by reducing species richness and plant height, while natural drought and soil nitrogen content directly affected BGB.
conclusionsThese results suggest that species richness and functional traits can modulate the effects of drought on AGB, however natural drought and soil nitrogen determine BGB. Our findings demonstrate that the long-term observation and experiment are necessary to understand the underlying mechanism of the allocation and trade-off of community above-and belowground biomass.
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