02100nas a2200133   4500008004100000245011500041210006900156300001100225490000600236520161100242100002401853700001501877856007401892       2018                        eng d00aInterannual variability in climate effects on community assembly and ecosystem functioning in restored prairie0 aInterannual variability in climate effects on community assembly  ae023270 v93 a<p>Community assembly theory attempts to explain factors influencing the composition of communities, which can be governed by deterministic and/or stochastic processes. We used a sequential restoration approach to gain insights into how interannual variation in climate influences community assembly in an agriculture field restored to tallgrass prairie. Species composition and aboveground net primary production (ANPP) were followed for three years in each of three sequentially restored communities, which were established in different years, and sown with the same suite of species using the same live seeding rate for each species. There was a sequence‐by‐age interaction for sown, volunteer, and total species composition (P = 0.001), cover (P &lt; 0.009), diversity (P &lt; 0.024), and richness (P &lt; 0.025). Annual net primary production had a sequence‐by‐age interaction for total, sown, and volunteer species (P &lt; 0.05). In general, species diversity and richness increased over time. We attributed different starting compositions and trajectories in the developing composition of communities and ANPP among sequences to variation in precipitation. Sequences II and III were sown under drought conditions and became dominated by a drought‐resistant agricultural weed that corresponded with delayed establishment and lower ANPP of sown species in those sequences. This study suggests that the effects of drought on community composition vary depending on restoration year, with younger restorations exhibiting greater sensitivity to drought than those that are more established.</p>1 aManning, George, C.1 aBaer, S.G.  uhttps://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecs2.2327