How Seasonal Grazing Exclusion Affects Grassland Productivity and Plant Community Diversity

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors:  I have provided an attachment for your review that includes my comments and suggestions for revision as well as the mss in MS WORD format so that I could more easily display editorial suggestions.  I hope that you will find these comments helpful.

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you for your comments on the modification of my article. I revised the article according to the comments.

1. The "lmer" function in the "nlme" package was used to establish mixed-effect modeling, and the restricted maximum likelihood method was used to estimate the parameters and re-analyze the data. Year (Y), GI and GM were used as fixed effects, and repeated measures were used as random effects. Mixed-effect models were used to analyze the effects of different Y, GI and GM and their interactions on total AGB, plant community diversity, AGB,coverage, height and density of different plant functional groups and dominant species.
2. Based on the mixed-effect modeling results, the paper results and the chart section were rewritten, and the discussion section was revised based on the results.
3. The PCoA analysis process is described in detail.
4. Further modification was made for inappropriate references cited in the article.
5. Corrected the wrong words and grammar in the article.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

You have put a lot of work into the study. Nevertheless, there are several points of criticism. I hope that you will follow the suggestions for revision in order to substantially improve the paper.

Kind regards

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you for your comments on the modification of my article. I revised the article according to the comments.

1. The "lmer" function in the "nlme" package was used to establish mixed-effect modeling, and the restricted maximum likelihood method was used to estimate the parameters and re-analyze the data. Year (Y), GI and GM were used as fixed effects, and repeated measures were used as random effects. Mixed-effect models were used to analyze the effects of different Y, GI and GM and their interactions on total AGB, plant community diversity, AGB,coverage, height and density of different plant functional groups and dominant species.
2. Based on the mixed-effect modeling results, the paper results and the chart section were rewritten, and the discussion section was revised based on the results.
3. The PCoA analysis process is described in detail.
4. Further modification was made for inappropriate references cited in the article.
5. Corrected the wrong words and grammar in the article.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors:

Thank you for your efforts at revisions.  I would ask that you address the issue of analyzing many of these response variables (e.g., diversity metrics) as if they automatically fulfilled assumptions of the linear mixed model. In my initial comments, I provided a number of citations to support the contention that, theoretically, these indices are not normally distributed, and something needs to be done about this.  I offered some suggestions in my original comments.

Author Response

Thanks to the reviewers for their comments on the revisions to my manuscript. I made corrections to the manuscript.
1. We test the data, perform log conversion on the data that does not meet the normal distribution, and post-hoc tests on the significant impact. Re-fix errors in the article.
2. Correct the errors in the article according to the review opinions.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The contribution was substantially improved by the authors. Nevertheless, some points that had been pointed out were not considered and, in addition, new carelessness errors occurred in the rewritten passages. Therefore, a further revision round is necessary.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewers,
Hello reviewers. Regarding the choice of fixed effects in mixed-effects models, another reviewer wanted the year as a fixed effect, and I also felt that the year was more appropriate as a fixed effect. Because annual changes in temperature and precipitation will have an impact on plant growth, in addition, as the number of experimental years increases, seasonal grazing exclusion will also have a certain impact on plant growth and community. I am very sorry for this and would like to hear your suggestions.

Thanks to the reviewers for their comments on the revisions to my manuscript. I made corrections to the manuscript.
1. We test the data, perform log conversion on the data that does not meet the normal distribution, and post-hoc tests on the significant impact. Re-fix errors in the article.
2. Correct the errors in the article according to the review opinions.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx