Climate and Grazing Effects on the Biomass and Photosynthetic Capacity of Dominant Species in Mongolia Steppe Communities
Abstract
Global climate change and grazing are the key factors affecting plant productivity in steppe regions of Mongolia. It is important to separate the impacts of these factors and to assess the contribution of each factor to the biomass of pastoral plants. Here, we studied the grazing and climate impact on biomass and functional traits in three dominant species of Mongolian steppe plant communities: Artemisia frigida Willd., Stipa krylovii Roshev., and Kochia prostrata (L.) Schrad. Both aridity and grazing significantly influenced the biomass of the studied species but the direction and scope of the changes were species-specific. Grazing had no effect on leaf mass per area (LMA), photosynthesis (A
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