| Summary: | Climate warming and advanced snowmelt can simultaneously affect plant communities. However, the process of seasonal vegetative development under warming and early snowmelt conditions remains unclear, especially given that disturbance can amplify or dampen the effect of warming. This study addressed these issues using a 3-year experiment in a productive grassland in a cool temperate region. Three experimental conditions were established in the grassland: warming and early snowmelt using open-top chambers (OTCs), early snow removal and ambient temperature (SRs), and natural snowmelt and ambient temperature (CONTs). Half of the area of all plots was plowed to disturb soil conditions. Average temperature and snowmelt were 1.37 °C higher and 16–26 days earlier in OTCs relative to CONTs, respectively. Vegetation censuses during the 1–4 week intervals showed earlier increases in species richness and vegetation cover after snowmelt in OTCs than CONTs and SRs. Differences in species richness and plant cover among treatments were substantially diminished in plowed areas. Aboveground biomass showed little difference among treatments at the end of the growing season, while richness remained higher in OTCs. These results indicate that early snow removal did not alter grassland vegetation. The effect of OTCs can thus be due to either warming or a combination of early snowmelt and warming. Although climate change is predicted to have strong impacts on arctic and alpine ecosystems, this study suggests that the warming may also have important impacts in temperate regions. journal article
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