The shift in the abundance of two Stipa species in response to land use change is associated with their divergent reproductive strategies

AimsThe divergent changes of plant species under land use changes are key mechanisms underlying vegetation succession.Stipa grandissteppe andStipa kryloviisteppe are two plant communities widely distributed on the Mongolian Plateau. They have been speculated to be able to succeed into each other under different land use types and intensities based on the observations on their presence and abundance at the sites with different land use history. However, no direct evidence, neither the underlying mechanisms, have been reported for this speculation. Here, we verified this speculation and explored the underlying mechanisms in the typical steppe region of Inner Mongolia.