Current climate warming and extended droughts have major impacts on plant performance, with consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, unlike in trees, little is known about species-specific responses in grassland plants and the role of their different life histories in mitigating climate change impacts. We studied the climate-related plant establishment and growth dynamics over the last thirty years in four Central European grassland species with contrasting rooting depth, seed mass and xylem anatomy, and hence ability to cope with drought-induced restriction on establishment and growth. To assess the annual and seasonal dependency on fluctuating temperature and precipitation, we reconstructed establishment and growth chronologies from 174 individuals spanning 1–29 years, and more than 2,500 annual growth increments. We identified contrasting climatic controls of establishment and growth among focal species, which were likely related to their different traits. The establishment of deep-rooted, heavy-seeded species profited from increased winter and early spring precipitation, while the establishment of shallow-rooted, light-seeded species was weakly influenced by climate fluctuations. However, their growth was more adversely affected by high summer temperatures and drought than the growth of deep-rooted species. Our results show that the change towards a warmer and drier climate over the past thirty years profoundly reduced the growth and establishment of studied grassland plants. Most individuals established in the wet period of the 2000s, but the establishment reduced considerably during the dry and warm period of the 2010s. Our results provide novel insights into species-specific climate dependency of plant establishment, growth and population dynamics, suggesting the high vulnerability of Central European grasslands to climate warming.

当前的气候变暖和长期干旱对植物性能产生重大影响，并对生物多样性和生态系统功能产生影响。然而，与树木不同的是，人们对草原植物的物种特异性反应及其不同生活史在减轻气候变化影响中的作用知之甚少。我们研究了过去 30 年在四种中欧草原物种中与气候相关的植物建立和生长动态，这些物种具有对比的生根深度、种子质量和木质部解剖结构，以及应对干旱引起的建立和生长限制的能力。为了评估对温度和降水波动的年度和季节性依赖性，我们重建了跨越 1-29 年的 174 个个体的建立和生长年表，以及超过 2,500 年的增长增量。我们确定了焦点物种之间建立和生长的对比气候控制，这可能与其不同的特征有关。深根、重粒种的建立得益于冬季和早春降水的增加，而浅根、轻种的建立受气候波动的影响较弱。然而，与根深蒂固的物种的生长相比，它们的生长受到夏季高温和干旱的不利影响更大。我们的研究结果表明，过去 30 年气候变暖和干燥的变化极大地减少了所研究草地植物的生长和建立。大多数个体在 2000 年代的潮湿时期建立，但在 2010 年代的干燥和温暖时期，建立数量大大减少。