The data set features the species richness of vascular plants along a 600km long gradient Mongolian rangeland vegetation. The data was collected to study the role of climatic variability for the effects of grazing in rangelands. 15 sites were selected across a 600 km long precipitation gradient in Central Mongolia. At each site, 5 subplots were sampled within each distance of 50m, 150m, 350, 750m and 1500m to a grazing hotspot. The 375 plots with 10 m x 10 m were visited in 2014 and resampled in 2015. More information is available in the corresponding paper.