TY  - Data
T1  - Extreme drought stress shifts net facilitation to neutral  interactions between shrubs and sub-canopy plants in an arid  desert（2013-2015）
A1  - None
A1  - None
DO  - 10.5061/dryad.hd53q
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023-07-14
PB  - National Cryosphere Desert Data Center
AB  - In the present study, we conducted a field experiment along a temporal rainfall gradient for five consecutive years, in order to investigate interactions in a shrub-herbaceous plant community at the southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert, and, more specifically, investigated the effects of Calligonum mongolicum, a dominant shrub species, on both abiotic environmental variables and the performance of sub-canopy plant species. We found that shrubs can improve sub-canopy water regimes, soil properties, plant biomass, density, cover, and richness and, more importantly, that the positive effect of shrubs on sub-canopy soil moisture during the summer diminishes as rainfall decreases, a pattern that partly explains the collapse of the positive interaction between shrubs and their understory plants. These results provide empirical evidence that the positive effect of shrubs on understory plant communities in extreme arid environments may decline and become neutral with increasing drought stress.
DB  - NCDC
UR  - http://www.ncdc.ac.cn/portal/metadata/81ba9544-0489-4793-a3b3-6fab31fc64fc
ER  -