{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T18:51:17Z","timestamp":1792090277653,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790035200000},"content-version":"am","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/pages\/standard-publication-reuse-rights"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Key R&D Program","award":["2019YFC0507700"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019YFC0507700"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012226","name":"the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012226","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"the National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"the Royal Society of the UK","award":["32011530169"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32011530169"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background and Aims<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Grazing is a pervasive disturbance in dryland grasslands, yet its effects on shrub populations remain difficult to predict because it can influence different demographic processes in various ways. Understanding whether shrub populations decline or persist under grazing requires demographic approaches that integrate vital rates across the full life cycle in temporally varying environments.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We monitored populations of Caragana microphylla, a long-lived leguminous shrub widely distributed across the dryland grasslands of northern China, from 2022 to 2024 in both grazed and grazing-excluded plots in the desert steppe of Inner Mongolia. We modelled size-dependent survival, growth, reproduction probability and reproductive output, and we used stochastic integral projection models to estimate stochastic population growth rate (\u03bbs). We also used stochastic elasticity analyses and stochastic life table response experiments to identify the vital rates and temporal components underlying treatment differences in \u03bbs.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Key Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Grazing increased survival and the probability of reproduction, but reduced growth and reproductive output. Despite these divergent vital-rate responses, \u03bbs remained close to one in both treatments and was higher in grazed populations. Stochastic life table response experiments revealed that the higher \u03bbs in grazed populations arose primarily from positive contributions of survival across all sizes and of fecundity in small-\u00a0to medium-sized individuals. These positive contributions offset negative contributions from growth and shrinkage across all sizes, and from negative fecundity contributions in larger individuals. Temporal variation in fecundity made a negative contribution to \u03bbs under grazing, but this effect did not outweigh the positive contribution of mean vital-rate compensation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Overall, C. microphylla populations maintained near-stable stochastic population growth under grazing through compensatory changes among vital rates, although plant growth and reproductive output declined. These findings demonstrate that shrub population responses to grazing cannot be inferred from changes in individual vital rates alone. Full life-cycle stochastic demographic models provide a useful framework for understanding population dynamics in temporally variable environments.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1093\/aob\/mcag301","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T11:07:41Z","timestamp":1789988861000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Demographic compensation maintains shrub population growth in a grazed desert steppe"],"prefix":"10.1093","author":[{"given":"Dan-Dan","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, and College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730000 ,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, and College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730000 ,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2251-5625","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yu-Kun","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, and College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730000 ,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8536-8194","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shou-Li","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, and College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730000 ,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026101514162838300_mcag301-B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"870","DOI":"10.1111\/ele.13488","article-title":"Accounting for stochasticity in demographic compensation along the elevational range of an alpine plant","volume":"23","author":"Andrello","year":"2020","journal-title":"Ecology Letters"},{"key":"2026101514162838300_mcag301-B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"603","DOI":"10.1126\/science.abo2380","article-title":"Grassland soil carbon sequestration: current understanding, challenges, and solutions","volume":"377","author":"Bai","year":"2022","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"2026101514162838300_mcag301-B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"517","DOI":"10.1038\/nature13144","article-title":"Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation","volume":"508","author":"Borer","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"2026101514162838300_mcag301-B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"261","DOI":"10.1177\/0049124104268644","article-title":"Multimodel inference\u2014understanding AIC and BIC in model selection","volume":"33","author":"Burnham","year":"2004","journal-title":"Sociological Methods & Research"},{"key":"2026101514162838300_mcag301-B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1016\/0304-3800(95)00070-4","article-title":"Analysis of life table response experiments II. 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