Overview:
We propose to organize a working group that will analyze and synthesize long-term data on the relationship between precipitation variability and the structure of North American (NA) grassland plant communities.
This project will build on prior LTER-related synthetic efforts that have evaluated the response of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) to precipitation variability [1-2] and the relationships among ANPP, plant community composition and resource availability [3-7] in NA grasslands.
Our proposed work directly supports the LTER initiative in Inland Climate Change and integrates LTER and non-LTER data to address the impact of different climate change scenarios on productivity, species composition, and functioning of NA grasslands.
