Monthly precipitation (PPT in mm) and effective mean temperature (EMT in °C d⁻¹) during the early season (i.e. March, April, May, June) in six experimental years.

<p>Effective mean temperature: above 0°C mean daily temperature in the respective period of time.</p

Effect of grazing intensity (GI) and year on aboveground biomass (g DM m⁻²) of species and diversity indices (richness, diversity and evenness).

<p>The abbreviations are: <i>L.ch</i> (<i>Leymus chinensis</i>), <i>S.gr</i> (<i>Stipa grandis</i>), <i>C.sq</i> (<i>Cleistogenes squarrosa</i>).</p><p>(*: 0.01<<i>P</i><0.05, **: 0.001<<i>P</i><0.01, ***: <i>P</i><0.001, and ns means not significant, <i>P</i>>0.05).</p

Precipitation (PPT in mm) and mean temperature (MT in °C d⁻¹) in early season (March-June), late season (June-October) and out of season (October-March) in six experimental years.

<p>Early season: March to June; Late season: July to October; Out of season: November to February.</p

Adjusted R-Square coefficients of determination (<i>n = </i>84) associated C3 vs. C4 species (<i>S. grandis</i> vs. <i>C. squarrosa</i>) and diversity with precipitation (PPT in mm) and effective mean temperature (EMT in °C d⁻¹) for multiple stepwise variance regression analysis.

<p>“NS” means no variable met the 0.05 significance level for entry into the model.</p><p>Effective mean temperature: above 0°C mean daily temperature in the respective period of time.</p

Correlation coefficients (<i>n = </i>84) for relationship between aboveground biomass of each species and diversity indices (richness, diversity and evenness) with precipitation (PPT in mm) and mean temperature (MT in °C d⁻¹).

<p>Early-season: March to June; Late-season: July to October; Out-of-season: November to February.</p><p>(*: 0.01<<i>P</i><0.05, **: 0.001<<i>P</i><0.01, ***: <i>P</i><0.001, and ns means not significant, <i>P</i>>0.05).</p><p>For abbreviations of species names see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0052180#pone-0052180-t003" target="_blank">Table 3</a>.</p

Effective annual precipitation rates (left y-axis) and annual mean temperature (right y-axis) from 2005–2010.

<p>The horizontal dashed line denotes the 20-year (1983–2004) mean effective annual precipitation of 343 mm, and the horizontal solid line denotes the mean annual temperature of 0.7°c over the same 20–year period.</p

Partial R-square coefficients of determination (<i>n = </i>84) associated species diversity and species composition with precipitation (PPT in mm) and mean temperature (MT in °C d⁻¹) in the early-season (March - June) for stepwise variance regression analysis.

<p>For abbreviations of species names see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0052180#pone-0052180-t003" target="_blank">Table 3</a>.</p><p>(*: 0.01<<i>P</i><0.05, **: 0.001<<i>P</i><0.01, ***: <i>P</i><0.001, and ns means not significant, <i>P</i>>0.05).</p

Giese et al 2013_suppl_biomass

biomass data of the experimental sites from 2004 - 200

Giese et al 2013_suppl_image_dung heap

image of a dung heap used for cooking and heating during winte

Giese et al 2013_suppl_image_Inner Mongolia grassland Xilin River

panorama image of the Xilingole grassland near the experimental site