Dataset - Thermal variability and atmospheric water demand constrain herbaceous biomass production beyond rainfall totals in Mediterranean ecosystems.

This dataset contains derived, plot-level summary data used in the study 'Thermal variability and atmospheric water demand constrain herbaceous biomass production beyond rainfall totals in Mediterranean ecosystems'.The data are based on a long-term rainfall manipulation experiment conducted at the Matta LTER site (Mediterranean shrubland, central Israel) and include annual aboveground herbaceous biomass measurements (2002–2024) alongside corresponding climatic and treatment variables.Variables include:Aboveground herbaceous biomass (g m⁻²)Diurnal temperature range (DTR)Vapor pressure deficit (VPD)Precipitation metrics (cumulative precipitation, rainfall intensity, number of rain events)Rainfall manipulation treatment (percentage of natural precipitation)Selected antecedent (previous-year) climate indicesThe dataset represents processed summary values (means and derived indices) used for statistical and machine-learning analyses in the associated manuscript. Raw sensor-level and plot-level time series are not included.These data are provided to support transparency, reproducibility, and future synthesis efforts, and are sufficient to reproduce the main analyses and figures presented in the manuscript.