4.4 Conclusions
By using a novel experimental design, our study revealed distinct trends
in community structure and species trait expression within grassland
plant communities. We found that species had consistent trait responses
to a variety of imposed climates. While this may suggest that climate
alone does not have a strong influence on within-community trait
dynamics, it highlights the importance of the interactive role between
soil and climate in the internal structure of community traits.
Communities generally produced biomass in consistent hierarchies at both
the community and individual scale. However, species-specific
contributions to community biomass depended heavily on soil and climate.
Further, in treatments where species had low survivorship,
species-specific biomass contribution was maintained through the
increased biomass of surviving individuals. The effect of soil echoed
this: analyses revealed stochastic variation in species trait responses
across climates and species. Our integrative community-based approach
contributes to predictions of grassland ecosystem-level changes under a
changing climate, by incorporating aspects such as inter- and
intra-specific species responses, as well as partitioning the
contributions of climate and soil. Our study offers a holistic view
regarding the role of species level trait-based dynamics in determining
overall grassland community hierarchies.