Differential responses of grassland community nonstructural carbohydrate to experimental drought along a natural aridity gradient

Plant nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) can reflect community and ecosystem responses to environmental changes such as water availability. Climate change is predicted to increase aridity and the frequency of extreme drought events in grasslands, but it is unclear how community-scale NSC will respond to drought or how such responses may vary along aridity gradients. We experimentally imposed a 4-year drought in six grasslands along a natural aridity gradient and measured the community-weighted mean of leaf soluble sugar (SS