Plant community responses to warming modified by soil moisture in the Tibetan Plateau

Figures & data

Figure 1. Mean monthly air temperature at 20 cm aboveground, mean monthly soil temperature at 5 cm depth, and mean monthly soil water content at 5 cm depth in control and warming plots measured in alpine meadow and alpine swamp in the Tibetan Plateau from 2013 to 2016. Control, solid circle; Open-Topped Chamber (OTC) warming, solid triangle

Table 1. Results (F and p values) of repeated measures ANOVA on the effects of the warming treatment (OTC vs. control), site, and their interactions on species richness, vegetation height, and cover of graminoids, forbs, legumes, and litter

	Species richness		Vegetation height		Graminoids		Forbs		Legume		Litter
	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p
Treatment	6.36	.07	13.23	.02	1.54	.28	1.86	.25	7.03	.06	1.04	.37
Site	55.88	<.01	33.74	<.01	8.73	.04	35.21	<.01	116.40	<.01	25.17	<.01
Treatment × Site	0.72	.44	0.03	.86	1.63	.27	<0.01	.94	6.73	.06	0.66	.46

Note. Bold numbers indicate p < .05.

Figure 2. Vegetation height; species richness; and cover of graminoids, forbs, legumes, and litter in control and warming plots in alpine meadow and alpine swamp. Control, solid line; OTC warming, dashed line. Data are shown as mean ± SE (n = 6)

Table 2. Results (F and p values) of ANOVA on the effects of the warming treatment (OTC vs. control) on SLA, LDMC, carbon isotope values (δ¹³C), nitrogen isotope values (δ¹⁵N), carbon concentration, nitrogen concentration, and C:N

	SLA		LDMC		δ^13C		δ^15N		C		N		C:N
	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p
Alpine meadow
Kobresia pygmaea	1.74	.22	0.11	.75	30.56	<.01	8.70	.02	0.62	.45	27	<.01	27.00	<.01
Carex scabrirostris	1.92	.20	7.50	.02	29.38	<.01	0.09	.77	0.00	.95	15.06	<.01	10.44	<.01
Elymus nutans	5.18	.05	12.59	<.01	11.11	<.01	53.07	<.01	0.86	.38	11.17	<.01	10.54	<.01
Alpine swamp
Kobresia tibetica	1.40	.26	5.61	.04	5.06	<.05	0.39	.54	6.28	.03	0.02	.89	0.23	.64
Carex scabrirostris	40.60	<.01	5.78	.04	7.13	.02	4.06	.07	11.49	<.01	1.96	.19	4.04	.07

Note. Bold numbers indicate p < .05.

Figure 3. Specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content for the most common species in control and OTC plots in alpine meadow and swamp in the Tibetan Plateau. Data are shown as mean ± SE (n = 6). Asterisks indicate significant (p < .05) differences between control and OTCs

Figure 4. Leaf C and N isotopes, C and N concentrations, and C:N for the most common species in control and warming plots in alpine meadow and alpine swamp of the Tibetan Plateau. Data are shown as mean ± SE (n = 6). Asterisks indicate significant (p < .05) differences between control and OTCs