“…The genus Stipa is a grazing-resistant, drought-resistant, mycorrhizal, and perennial bunchgrass with sand sheaths, which can help plants tolerate abiotic stresses ( 6 , 39 ). The north-south heat difference and the east-west southeast monsoon wind system differentiate meadow grassland ( Stipa baicalensis population), typical grassland ( Stipa grandis and Stipa krylovii populations), and desert grassland ( Stipa breviflora , Stipa gobica , Stipa klemenzii and Stipa glareosa populations) in arid and semiarid grasslands ( 5 , 6 , 40 ). The study transect provides a suitable area and unique opportunity for this investigation due to the high heterogeneity of abiotic factors and geographic substituted distribution patterns of unique Stipa species ( Fig.…”