Data from: An experimental test of trait-based restoration to achieve drought tolerance and invasion resistance in two grasslands

作者：Hailey E. Mount, Jennifer Funk, Dana M. Blumenthal, Justin Derner, Monica A. Nguyen, Jesse R. Fleri, Julie A. Kray, David H. Atkins, Daniel Laughlin · 发表于：DRYAD · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.5061/dryad.prr4xgz2j · 研究领域：Biology、Agronomy、Ecology、Agroforestry、Environmental science

Drought and invasive species are threats to primary productivity in grassland ecosystems worldwide. A central challenge in ecological restoration is establishing plant communities that can withstand these abiotic and biotic stressors. We tested the efficacy of a trait-based framework for enhancing drought tolerance and invasion resistance in experimental restorations of contrasting grassland systems, a perennial mixed-grass prairie in Wyoming, and an annual interior grassland in California. Each experiment included four trait-based seeding treatments: drought-tolerant, invasion-resistant, functionally diverse, and a random control. All seeded communities were subjected to extreme precipitation reduction (-50 % annual) and invasion by non-native annual grasses. We asked two questions: (1) Can we establish communities from seed that meet and maintain these desired trait-based targets? (2) Did the trait-based seeding treatments tolerate extreme precipitation reduction or resist invasion by non-native annual grasses? Based on analyses of compositional dissimilarities, we found that trait-based restoration targets were more difficult to maintain in an annual-dominant grassland rather than perennial-dominant, and targets composed of multiple community-weighted mean traits were more difficult to meet than targets that maximized functional diversity. In both grasslands, plant communities with drought tolerant traits maintained growth rates under reduced precipitation, but these effec...