Effects of manipulated precipitation on aboveground net primary productivity of grassland fields: Controlled rainfall experiments in Inner Mongolia, China

Recovery from grassland degradation caused by climate change and human disturbance is critical to the sustainable development of drylands. Grassland in China accounts for 13% of the global grassland area, and more than half of it is still recovering from degradation. How climate change will contribute to the recovery of degraded grassland has not been clarified through field experiments. Here, we report the effects of manipulated precipitation regimes on above ground net primary productivity (ANPP) in five grassland fields along a degradation gradient using a 3-year controlled rainfall manipulation experiment in Inner Mongolia, China. We found that differences of approximately 20-30% in growing season precipitation have limited impacts on the ANPP of grasslands, and the responses can depend crucially on the degradation status indicated by vegetation and soil features. ANPP sensitivity to spring drought increased with increasing degradation level, which was mainly determined by vegetation composition. ANPP was generally insensitive to summer drought except for mature grassland, in which drought led to severe soil water deficit, mainly mediated by soil water holding capacity. Our results suggest that the recovery of degraded grassland is expected to be delayed by increasing drought early in the growing season, and mature grassland would be more vulnerable to extreme summer drought. These findings highlight the negative impacts of seasonal drought on degraded grassland and emphasize the importance of accounting for climate change and degradation status in future grassland ecosystem restoration and management policies.