Does plant diversity affect the water balance of established grassland systems?

Evidence from experimental grasslands indicated that plant biodiversity modifies the water cycle, but it is unclear if this is also true for established land‐use systems. Therefore, we investigated how actual evapotranspiration ( ETa ), downward flux ( DF ), and upward flux ( UF ) in soil are related with land use and plant diversity in agriculturally managed grassland. In three Central European regions (“Biodiversity Exploratories”), we studied...