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Luo C, Fang Z, Liu J, Han F, Wu Y, Bing H, Zhao P. Root carbon and soil temperature may be key drivers of below-ground biomass in grassland following prescribed fires in autumn and spring. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2024; 349:119337. [PMID: 37951102 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/12/2023] [Indexed: 11/13/2023]
Abstract
Under global warming, fire and the season in which the fire occurs both have important impacts on grassland plant biomass. Still, the effect of fire on below-ground biomass (BB) along a natural aridity gradient and the main impact factors remain unclear. Here, we conducted a fire manipulation experiment (including un-fired, autumn fire and spring fire treatments) to investigate the effects of prescribed fire on BB and its critical determinants along a transect of grassland in northern China. BB had different response strategies in different aridity regions and fire seasons, despite above-ground biomass (AB) and root-shoot ratio were not significantly affected by fire. General linear regression models revealed that the fire changed the trend of increasing BB to decreasing along increasing aridity (p < 0.05). Random forest model (RFM) and partial correlations revealed that the BB was primarily influenced by aridity, followed by the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentration ratio of AB under un-fired disturbance. For autumn fire, the BB was primarily influenced by below-ground biomass carbon concentration (BB c), followed by the C and N concentration ratio of BB. For spring fire, the BB was primarily influenced by soil temperature (ST), followed by aridity and soil total phosphorus concentration (Soil p). Furthermore, partial least squares path model (PLS-PM) revealed that autumn fires weakened the effects of environmental factors on BB, while spring fires enhanced the effects of soil nutrients on BB. These suggested that fire disrupted the original stable nutrient dynamics of BB. Our results suggested that fire promoted the growth of BB in relatively humid areas (aridity = 0.51-0.53) while inhibited the growth of BB in relatively arid areas (aridity = 0.68-0.74). BB c and ST may be key drivers of BB after prescribed fire in autumn and spring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chaoyi Luo
- State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, China; Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China; Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610299, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Zhao Fang
- State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, China; Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Jiang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, China; Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Fengpeng Han
- State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, China; Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China.
| | - Yanhong Wu
- Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610299, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
| | - Haijian Bing
- Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610299, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Peng Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610299, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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Duan D, Feng X, Wu N, Tian Z, Dong X, Liu H, Nan Z, Chen T. Drought Eliminates the Difference in Root Trait Plasticity and Mycorrhizal Responsiveness of Two Semiarid Grassland Species with Contrasting Root System. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:10262. [PMID: 37373408 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241210262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Revised: 06/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Root traits and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are important in determining the access of plants to soil resources. However, whether plants with different root systems (i.e., taproot vs. fibrous-root) exhibit different root trait plasticity and mycorrhizal responsiveness under drought remains largely unexplored. Tap-rooted Lespedeza davurica and fibrous-rooted Stipa bungeana were grown in monocultures in sterilized and live soils, followed by a drought treatment. Biomass, root traits, root colonization by AM fungi, and nutrient availability were evaluated. Drought decreased biomass and root diameter but increased the root:shoot ratio (RSR), specific root length (SRL), soil NO3--N, and available P for the two species. Under control and drought conditions, soil sterilization significantly increased the RSR, SRL, and soil NO3--N for L. davurica, but this only occurs under drought condition for S. bungeana. Soil sterilization significantly reduced AM fungal root colonization of both species, but drought significantly increased it in live soil. In water-abundant conditions, tap-rooted L. davurica may depend more on AM fungi than fibrous-rooted S. bungeana; however, under drought conditions, AM fungi are of equal importance in favoring both plant species to forage soil resources. These findings provide new insights for understanding the resource utilization strategies under climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongdong Duan
- State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
- Sichuan Zoige Alpine Wetland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Institute of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Xiaoxuan Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Nana Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Zhen Tian
- State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Xin Dong
- State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Huining Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Zhibiao Nan
- State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Tao Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Hidalgo-Triana N, Pérez-Latorre AV, Adomou AC, Rudner M, Thorne JH. Adaptations to the stressful combination of serpentine soils and Mediterranean climate drive plant functional groups and trait richness. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1040839. [PMID: 36993858 PMCID: PMC10040603 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1040839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Plant functional traits (FTs) are important for understanding plant ecological strategies (e.g., drought avoidance), especially in the nutrient-poor soils of serpentine ecosystems. In the Mediterranean areas, such ecosystems are characterized by climatic factors (e.g., summer drought) that exert a filtering effect. MATERIAL AND METHODS In our study, we analyzed 24 species with varying serpentine affinity, from strictly serpentine plants to generalist plants, from two ultramafic shrublands in southern Spain, considering four FTs: plant height (H), leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA), and stem specific density (SSD). Additionally, we also identified the species' dominant strategies to avoid drought and those strategies' relationship to serpentine affinity. We used principal component analysis to identify combinations of FTs, and cluster analysis to define Functional Groups (FGs). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION We defined eight FGs, which suggests that such Mediterranean serpentine shrublands are composed of species with wide-ranging of FTs. Indicator traits explained 67-72% of the variability based on four strategies: (1) lower H than in other Mediterranean ecosystems; (2) middling SSD; (3) low LA; and (4) low SLA due to thick and/or dense leaves, which contribute to long leaf survival, nutrient retention, and protection from desiccation and herbivory. Generalist plants had higher SLA than obligate serpentine plants, whereas the obligate serpentine plants showed more drought avoidance mechanisms than the generalists. Although most plant species inhabiting Mediterranean serpentine ecosystems have shown similar ecological adaptations in response to the Mediterranean environment, our results suggest that serpentine obligate plant species could present greater resilience to climate change. Given greater number and more pronounced drought avoidance mechanisms in these species compared with generalists, and the high number of FGs identified, the serpentine plants have shown adaptation to severe drought.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Michael Rudner
- Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Weidenbach, Germany
| | - James H. Thorne
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
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Bergholz K, Kober K, Jeltsch F, Schmidt K, Weiss L. Trait means or variance-What determines plant species' local and regional occurrence in fragmented dry grasslands? Ecol Evol 2021; 11:3357-3365. [PMID: 33841789 PMCID: PMC8019038 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2020] [Revised: 01/15/2021] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the few laws in ecology is that communities consist of few common and many rare taxa. Functional traits may help to identify the underlying mechanisms of this community pattern, since they correlate with different niche dimensions. However, comprehensive studies are missing that investigate the effects of species mean traits (niche position) and intraspecific trait variability (ITV, niche width) on species abundance. In this study, we investigated fragmented dry grasslands to reveal trait-occurrence relationships in plants at local and regional scales. We predicted that (a) at the local scale, species occurrence is highest for species with intermediate traits, (b) at the regional scale, habitat specialists have a lower species occurrence than generalists, and thus, traits associated with stress-tolerance have a negative effect on species occurrence, and (c) ITV increases species occurrence irrespective of the scale. We measured three plant functional traits (SLA = specific leaf area, LDMC = leaf dry matter content, plant height) at 21 local dry grassland communities (10 m × 10 m) and analyzed the effect of these traits and their variation on species occurrence. At the local scale, mean LDMC had a positive effect on species occurrence, indicating that stress-tolerant species are the most abundant rather than species with intermediate traits (hypothesis 1). We found limited support for lower specialist occurrence at the regional scale (hypothesis 2). Further, ITV of LDMC and plant height had a positive effect on local occurrence supporting hypothesis 3. In contrast, at the regional scale, plants with a higher ITV of plant height were less frequent. We found no evidence that the consideration of phylogenetic relationships in our analyses influenced our findings. In conclusion, both species mean traits (in particular LDMC) and ITV were differently related to species occurrence with respect to spatial scale. Therefore, our study underlines the strong scale-dependency of trait-abundance relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kolja Bergholz
- University Potsdam, Plant Ecology & Nature ConservationPotsdamGermany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB)BerlinGermany
| | - Klarissa Kober
- Leibniz‐Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e. V.MünchebergGermany
| | - Florian Jeltsch
- University Potsdam, Plant Ecology & Nature ConservationPotsdamGermany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB)BerlinGermany
| | - Kristina Schmidt
- University Potsdam, Plant Ecology & Nature ConservationPotsdamGermany
| | - Lina Weiss
- University Potsdam, Plant Ecology & Nature ConservationPotsdamGermany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB)BerlinGermany
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Kelly R, Healy K, Anand M, Baudraz MEA, Bahn M, Cerabolini BEL, Cornelissen JHC, Dwyer JM, Jackson AL, Kattge J, Niinemets Ü, Penuelas J, Pierce S, Salguero-Gómez R, Buckley YM. Climatic and evolutionary contexts are required to infer plant life history strategies from functional traits at a global scale. Ecol Lett 2021; 24:970-983. [PMID: 33638576 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2020] [Accepted: 01/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Life history strategies are fundamental to the ecology and evolution of organisms and are important for understanding extinction risk and responses to global change. Using global datasets and a multiple response modelling framework we show that trait-climate interactions are associated with life history strategies for a diverse range of plant species at the global scale. Our modelling framework informs our understanding of trade-offs and positive correlations between elements of life history after accounting for environmental context and evolutionary and trait-based constraints. Interactions between plant traits and climatic context were needed to explain variation in age at maturity, distribution of mortality across the lifespan and generation times of species. Mean age at maturity and the distribution of mortality across plants' lifespan were under evolutionary constraints. These findings provide empirical support for the theoretical expectation that climatic context is key to understanding trait to life history relationships globally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Kelly
- Department of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.,Environment and Marine Sciences Division, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT9 5PX, UK
| | - Kevin Healy
- Department of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland Galway, University Rd, Galway, Ireland
| | - Madhur Anand
- Global Ecological Change Laboratory, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Maude E A Baudraz
- Department of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Michael Bahn
- Department of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Bruno E L Cerabolini
- Department of Biotechnologies and Life Sciences (DBSV), University of Insubria, via J.H. Dunant 3, Varese, IT-21100, Italy
| | - Johannes H C Cornelissen
- Systems Ecology, Department of Ecological Science, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, Amsterdam, 1081HV, The Netherlands
| | - John M Dwyer
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Andrew L Jackson
- Department of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Jens Kattge
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans Knöll Str. 10, Jena, 07745, Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
| | - Ülo Niinemets
- Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, Tartu, 51006, Estonia
| | - Josep Penuelas
- CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, 08193, Spain.,CSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Simon Pierce
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan, via Celoria 2, Milan, IT-20133, Italy
| | | | - Yvonne M Buckley
- Department of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.,School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
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LC-MS based plant metabolic profiles of thirteen grassland species grown in diverse neighbourhoods. Sci Data 2021; 8:52. [PMID: 33563993 PMCID: PMC7873126 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-021-00836-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In plants, secondary metabolite profiles provide a unique opportunity to explore seasonal variation and responses to the environment. These include both abiotic and biotic factors. In field experiments, such stress factors occur in combination. This variation alters the plant metabolic profiles in yet uninvestigated ways. This data set contains trait and mass spectrometry data of thirteen grassland species collected at four time points in the growing season in 2017. We collected above-ground vegetative material of seven grass and six herb species that were grown in plant communities with different levels of diversity in the Jena Experiment. For each sample, we recorded visible traits and acquired shoot metabolic profiles on a UPLC-ESI-Qq-TOF-MS. We performed the raw data pre-processing in Galaxy-W4M and prepared the data for statistical analysis in R by applying missing data imputation, batch correction, and validity checks on the features. This comprehensive data set provides the opportunity to investigate environmental dynamics across diverse neighbourhoods that are reflected in the metabolomic profile.
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