Altered precipitation and root herbivory affect the productivity and composition of a mesic grassland

Table 1 List of the most abundant plant species/genera and their total biomass (g m⁻²)/cover (%) estimates for all plots during the course of the experiment

Species	C₃/C₄	Functional group	Life cycle	Warm season cover	Warm season biomass	Cool season cover	Cool season biomass
Avena spp.	C₃	grass	Annual	0	0	0.25	0
Bromus catharticus	C₃	grass	Annual	0	0	0.67	46.3
Digitaria sp.	C₃	grass	Annual	1.13	481.2	0.28	32.2
Gamochaeta spp.	C₃	forb	Annual	0.17	0	0.44	0
Modiola caroliniana	C₃	forb	Annual	0	0.12	0.28	0
Ornithopus compressus	C₃	legume	Annual	0.46	0.18	2.07	88.1
Oxalis corniculata	C₃	legume	Annual	0.79	3.32	3.1	0.59
Sonchus oleraceus	C₃	forb	Annual	0	0	0.8	8.61
Vicia sativa	C₃	legume	Annual	0	0.11	9.13	153.8
Anagallis arvensis	C₃	forb	Annual/Biennial	0	0	0.27	0.98
Plantago lanceolata	C₃	forb	Annual/Biennial	2.06	40.7	4.62	400.4
Senecio madagascariensis	C₃	forb	Annual/Biennial	0.66	1.25	2.67	207.5
Axonopus fissifolius	C₄	grass	Perennial	9.14	345.4	6.63	225.7
Bothriochloa macra	C₄	grass	Perennial	4.12	824.5	2.02	4.05
Cymbopogon refractus	C₄	grass	Perennial	9.45	1641.7	5.01	209.9
Cynodon dactylon	C₄	grass	Perennial	13.4	1157.8	7.81	1149.6
Eragrostis curvula	C₄	grass	Perennial	2.14	1989.7	4.32	2113.3
Hypochaeris radicata	C₃	forb	Perennial	4.25	25.6	8.34	142
Lolium perenne	C₃	grass	Perennial	0	0	8.56	813.2
Lotus corniculatus	C₃	legume	Perennial	0.57	0.53	2.25	4.97
Microlaena stipoides	C₃	grass	Perennial	13.2	516.6	11.72	993.3
Paspalum spp.	C₄	grass	Perennial	20.9	3548.7	13.18	1077.8
Setaria parviflora	C₄	grass	Perennial	10.2	1520.1	3.46	92.5
Verbena spp.	C₃	forb	Perennial	0.39	27.2	0.47	99.4
Other (unidentified)	various	various	Annual/Biennial/Perennial	6.98	218.3	1.64	63.2

ISSN: 2730-7182