Fig. 3 Mean relative growing season biomass of the functional
groups - (a) perennial rhizome grasses, (b) perennial bunchgrasses,(c)
perennial forbs, (d) shrubs and semi-shrubs, (e) annuals and biennials -
and (f) the dominant species at the study site between 1981 and 2011 (n
= 10, with standard deviation). Asterisks indicate significant changes
in relative biomass (*P<0.05).
Having analyzed all possible mean temperature and accumulative
precipitation distribution patterns, we found that the community biomass
was positively correlated with P1-9 and
P5-9, but negatively correlated with
T4-8 and T8 (Table 1). The relative
biomass of functional group PR was negatively correlated with
P9, but positively correlated with P1-6,
P4-6 and T7. The relative biomass of
functional group PB was negatively correlated with P1-6and P5-6 in the early growing season. The relative
biomass of PF was positively correlated with P6-9, but
negatively correlated with T6-8. P9 had
positive and negative relationships with the relative biomass of
functional group SS and dominant species, respectively. In addition, the
relative biomass of dominant species was negatively correlated with
P8-9 (Table 1).
Table 1 Climate factors
retained in the stepwise regression of community biomass, functional
groups relative biomass, species richness, community intra-annual
stability, functional groups biomass intra-annual stability