Role of plant litter in maintaining ecological stability of grassland following extreme rainfall.

Zhouwen Ma, Lan Li, Yingxin Wang, Qingping Zhou, Xinquan Zhang, Fujiang Hou

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Plant diversity, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Zhouwen MaState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Technology Research Center for Ecological Restoration and Utilization of Degraded Grassland in Northwest China, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, Gansu, China.

Lan LiState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Technology Research Center for Ecological Restoration and Utilization of Degraded Grassland in Northwest China, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, Gansu, China.

Yingxin WangState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Technology Research Center for Ecological Restoration and Utilization of Degraded Grassland in Northwest China, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, Gansu, China.

Qingping ZhouCollege of Grassland Resources, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China.

Xinquan ZhangCollege of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China.

Fujiang HouState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Technology Research Center for Ecological Restoration and Utilization of Degraded Grassland in Northwest China, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, Gansu, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Extreme climate scenarios threaten the ecological stability of grassland ecosystems. Plant litter plays a critical role in regulating ecosystem structure and function, therefore its accumulation must be carefully managed and manipulated. However, little is known about whether plant litter addition mitigates the effects of extreme weather events (e.g., heavy rainfall) on the ecological stability of grasslands. Here, we determined whether and, if so, how plant litter increases the ecological stability (i.e., resistance, resilience, and recovery) after extreme rainfall events in alpine grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We found that plant litter addition increased resilience and recovery of alpine grassland following extreme rainfall, but did not increase resistance. The ecological stability of plant functional groups, plant asynchrony, and changes in plant community compositional dynamics contributed to the resistance, resilience, and recovery of plant communities following extreme rainfall in the alpine grassland. Our findings indicate that the addition of plant litter could improve the ecological stability of alpine grassland following extreme rainfall event. Mainly through changing the ecological stability of certain plant functional groups within the community. These findings highlight the important role of plant litter accumulation in maintaining ecosystem stability of grassland in response to extreme weather events.

Indexed as

Alpine grasslandExtreme rainfallPlant litterRecoveryResilience

Identifiers

PMID42539787

DOI10.1016/j.pld.2025.06.005

PMCPMC13424683

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.