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Ding J, Eldridge DJ. Woody encroachment: social-ecological impacts and sustainable management. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024. [PMID: 38961449 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13104] [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: 11/21/2023] [Revised: 05/15/2024] [Accepted: 05/20/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
Woody plants are encroaching across terrestrial ecosystems globally, and this has dramatic effects on how these systems function and the livelihoods of producers who rely on the land to support livestock production. Consequently, the removal of woody plants is promoted widely in the belief that it will reinstate former grasslands or open savanna. Despite this popular management approach to encroachment, we still have a relatively poor understanding of the effects of removal on society, and of alternative management practices that could balance the competing needs of pastoral production, biodiversity conservation and cultural values. This information is essential for maintaining both ecological and societal benefits in encroached systems under predicted future climate changes. In this review, we provide a comprehensive synthesis of the social-ecological perspectives of woody encroachment based on recent studies and global meta-analyses by assessing the ecological impacts of encroachment and its effects on sustainable development goals (SDGs) when woody plants are retained and when they are removed. We propose a working definition of woody encroachment based on species- and community-level characteristics; such a definition is needed to evaluate accurately the effects of encroachment. We show that encroachment is a natural process of succession rather than a sign of degradation, with encroachment resulting in an overall 8% increase in ecosystem multifunctionality. Removing woody plants can increase herbaceous plant richness, biomass and cover, but at the expense of biocrust cover. The effectiveness of woody plant removal depends on plant identity, and where, when and how they are removed. Under current management practices, either removal or retention of woody plants can induce trade-offs among ecosystem services, with no management practice maximising all SDGs [e.g. SDG2 (end hunger), SDG13 (climate change), SDG 15 (combat desertification)]. Given that encroachment of woody plants is likely to increase under future predicted hotter and drier climates, alternative management options such as carbon farming and ecotourism could be effective land uses for areas affected by encroachment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingyi Ding
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - David J Eldridge
- Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, High Street, Kensington, Sydney, 2052, New South Wales, Australia
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2
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Cannone N, Malfasi F. Climate change triggered synchronous woody plants recruitment in the last two centuries in the treeline ecotone of the Northern Hemisphere. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 921:170953. [PMID: 38365041 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170953] [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: 11/16/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/11/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024]
Abstract
Climate change triggers several ecosystem responses, including woody plant encroachment. We analyse woody plant recruitment across the treeline ecotone (the forest-tundra ecotone) of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) over an extended period (1801-2010) and its relation with atmospheric CO2 and air temperature. We detected a synchronous trend of woody plant recruitment across the NH, indicating a major climatic and environmental change, triggered by a combination of CO2 fertilization and air temperature changes. The drivers of woody plant recruitment changed with time: CO2 fertilization was the main driver in the period 1801-1950, while air temperature was the main driver after 1950, despite the drastic acceleration of CO2 increase in the last decades. These data support the hypothesis that we are shifting from a fertilization-dominated to a warming-dominated period. The temporal patterns of woody plant recruitment are consistent with the occurrence of the 1980 regime shift, a major change occurred in the Earth's biophysical systems. Indeed, the recruitment drop promoted by the 1960s-1980s air cooling, was followed by an intensive recruitment increase triggered by the restart of air warming in the last decades. The largest sensitivity and fastest resilience of evergreen and Pinaceae to the restart of air warming allows to hypothesize that, among the woody plant functional and taxonomic groups, they could perform the largest expansion also in future decades.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Cannone
- Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Dip. Scienze Teoriche e Applicate, Via J.H. Dunant 2, 21100 Varese, Italy; Climate Change Research Center, Insubria University, Via Sant'Abbondio 12, 22100 Como, Italy.
| | - F Malfasi
- Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Dip. Scienza e Alta Tecnologia, Via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy; Climate Change Research Center, Insubria University, Via Sant'Abbondio 12, 22100 Como, Italy
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Cong N, Du Z, Zheng Z, Zhao G, Sun D, Zu J, Zhang Y. Altitude explains insignificant autumn phenological changes across regions with large topography relief in the Tibetan Plateau. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 921:171088. [PMID: 38387561 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171088] [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: 11/01/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 02/17/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
The start of the growing season (SGS) and the end of the growing season (EGS) are widely employed in global change studies to represent the spring and autumn phenology, respectively. Despite the Tibetan Plateau (TP) experiencing significant warming in recent decades, EGS has exhibited only slight changes. Previous studies have concentrated on exploring the environmental regulation of phenology, ignoring the distinctive influences of elevation. Therefore, a more in-depth investigation into the underlying mechanism is warranted. In this study, we investigate the variability of EGS among alpine vegetation regions at different elevations and conduct an analysis based on satellite data. Phenology data of alpine vegetation are extracted from SPOT NDVI dataset spanning from 1999 to 2018, using a piecewise-logistic-maximum-ratio method. We analyze the factors influencing EGS trends at different elevations. The results show that the overall insignificant variation in EGS is mainly attributed to altitude. With the altitude increasing, the annual mean EGS experiences a delay of 0.28 days/100 m below 3500 m, while it advances by 0.2 days/100 m above 3500 m. The opposing shift in elevation below and above 3500 m leads to this counteraction. Elevation emerges as the predominant factor influencing EGS trends, explaining the highest variations (38 %), followed by SGS (22 %) and precipitation (22 %). The elevation effect is most pronounced in areas with substantial topography fluctuations. Moreover, the elevation lapse rate of EGS (ELR_EGS) exhibits an opposite trend with growing season (GS) temperature and a similar trend with GS precipitation between the regions below and above 3500 m, ultimately linking to this counteraction. This study underscores elevation is a critical regulator of vegetation EGS responses to climatic changes over the TP, revealing significant spatial heterogeneities in these responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nan Cong
- Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Zhiyong Du
- Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Zhoutao Zheng
- Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Guang Zhao
- Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Dongqi Sun
- Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Jiaxing Zu
- Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China
| | - Yangjian Zhang
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
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Li D, Li X, Li Z, Fu Y, Zhang J, Zhao Y, Wang Y, Liang E, Rossi S. Drought limits vegetation carbon sequestration by affecting photosynthetic capacity of semi-arid ecosystems on the Loess Plateau. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 912:168778. [PMID: 38008313 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168778] [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: 07/03/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/28/2023]
Abstract
Drought is the driver for ecosystem production in semi-arid areas. However, the response mechanism of ecosystem productivity to drought remains largely unknown. In particular, it is still unclear whether drought limits the production via photosynthetic capacity or phenological process. Herein, we assess the effects of maximum seasonal photosynthesis, growing season length, and climate on the annual gross primary productivity (GPP) in vegetation areas of the Loess Plateau using multi-source remote sensing and climate data from 2001 to 2021. We found that maximum seasonal photosynthesis rather than growing season length dominates annual GPP, with above 90 % of the study area showing significant and positive correlation. GPP and maximum seasonal photosynthesis were positively correlated with self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI), standardized precipitation and evapotranspiration index (SPEI) in >95 % of the study area. Structural equation model demonstrated that both drought indices contributed to the annual GPP by promoting the maximum seasonal photosynthesis. Total annual precipitation had a positive and significant effect on two drought indices, whereas the effects of temperature and radiation were not significant. Evidence from wood formation data also confirmed that low precipitation inhibited long-term carbon sequestration by decreasing the maximum growth rate in forests. Our findings suggest that drought limits ecosystem carbon sequestration by inhibiting vegetation photosynthetic capacity rather than phenology, providing a support for assessing the future dynamics of the terrestrial carbon cycle and guiding landscape management in semi-arid ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dou Li
- College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China; Center for Pan-third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China; State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Xiaoxia Li
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
| | - Zongshan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
| | - Yang Fu
- Center for Pan-third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China; College of Earth and Environment Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Jingtian Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 10049, China
| | - Yijin Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Yafeng Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Eryuan Liang
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Sergio Rossi
- Laboratoire sur les écosystèmes terrestres boréaux, Département des Sciences Fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi G7H2B1, Canada
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Shi H, Zhou Q, He R, Zhang Q, Dang H. Asymmetric effects of daytime and nighttime warming on alpine treeline recruitment. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:3463-3475. [PMID: 36897639 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 03/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
Trees at their upper range limits are highly sensitive to climate change, and thus alpine treelines worldwide have changed their recruitment patterns in response to climate warming. However, previous studies focused only on daily mean temperature, neglecting the asymmetric influences of daytime and nighttime warming on recruitments in alpine treelines. Here, based on the compiled dataset of tree recruitment series from 172 alpine treelines across the Northern Hemisphere, we quantified and compared the different effects of daytime and nighttime warming on treeline recruitment using four indices of temperature sensitivity, and assessed the responses of treeline recruitment to warming-induced drought stress. Our analyses demonstrated that even in different environmental regions, both daytime and nighttime warming could significantly promote treeline recruitment, and however, treeline recruitment was much more sensitive to nighttime warming than to daytime warming, which could be attributable to the presence of drought stress. The increasing drought stress primarily driven by daytime warming rather than by nighttime warming would likely constrain the responses of treeline recruitment to daytime warming. Our findings provided compelling evidence that nighttime warming rather than daytime warming could play a primary role in promoting the recruitment in alpine treelines, which was related to the daytime warming-induced drought stress. Thus, daytime and nighttime warming should be considered separately to improve future projections of global change impacts across alpine ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Shi
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China
| | - Quan Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China
| | - Rui He
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P.R. China
| | - Quanfa Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China
| | - Haishan Dang
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China
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Zhang W, Jin H, Jamali S, Duan Z, Wu M, Ran Y, Ardö J, Eklundh L, Jönsson AM, Sun H, Hu G, Wu X, Yun H, Wu Q, Fu Z, Yu K, Tian F, Tagesson T, Li X, Xiao J. Convergence and divergence emerging in climatic controls of polynomial trends for northern ecosystem productivity over 2000-2018. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 874:162425. [PMID: 36870485 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162425] [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: 01/01/2023] [Revised: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Recent rapid warming has caused uneven impacts on the composition, structure, and functioning of northern ecosystems. It remains unknown how climatic drivers control linear and non-linear trends in ecosystem productivity. Based on a plant phenology index (PPI) product at a spatial resolution of 0.05° over 2000-2018, we used an automated polynomial fitting scheme to detect and characterize trend types (i.e., polynomial trends and no-trends) in the yearly-integrated PPI (PPIINT) for northern (> 30°N) ecosystems and their dependence on climatic drivers and ecosystem types. The averaged slope for the linear trends (p < 0.05) of PPIINT was positive across all the ecosystems, among which deciduous broadleaved forests and evergreen needle-leaved forests (ENF) showed the highest and lowest mean slopes, respectively. More than 50% of the pixels in ENF, arctic and boreal shrublands, and permanent wetlands (PW) had linear trends. A large fraction of PW also showed quadratic and cubic trends. These trend patterns agreed well with estimates of global vegetation productivity based on solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence. Across all the biomes, PPIINT in pixels with linear trends showed lower mean values and higher partial correlation coefficients with temperature or precipitation than in pixels without linear trends. Overall, our study revealed the emergence of latitudinal convergence and divergence in climatic controls on the linear and non-linear trends of PPIINT, implying that northern shifts of vegetation and climate change may potentially increase the non-linear nature of climatic controls on ecosystem productivity. These results can improve our understanding and prediction of climate-induced changes in plant phenology and productivity and facilitate sustainable management of ecosystems by accounting for their resilience and vulnerability to future climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenxin Zhang
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden.
| | - Hongxiao Jin
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden
| | - Sadegh Jamali
- Department of Technology and Society, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
| | - Zheng Duan
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden
| | - Mousong Wu
- International Institute for Earth System Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China; Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Technology, Key Laboratory for Land Satellite Remote Sensing Applications of Ministry of Natural Resources, School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China
| | - Youhua Ran
- Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Heihe Remote Sensing Experimental Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China; University of the Chinese Academy Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Jonas Ardö
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden
| | - Lars Eklundh
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden
| | - Anna Maria Jönsson
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden
| | - Huaiwei Sun
- School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Guojie Hu
- Cryosphere Research Station on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 West Donggang Road, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Xiaodong Wu
- University of the Chinese Academy Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China; Cryosphere Research Station on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 West Donggang Road, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Hanbo Yun
- Beiluhe Observation Station of Frozen Soil Environment and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Qingbai Wu
- University of the Chinese Academy Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China; Beiluhe Observation Station of Frozen Soil Environment and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Ziteng Fu
- University of the Chinese Academy Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China; Beiluhe Observation Station of Frozen Soil Environment and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Kailiang Yu
- High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Feng Tian
- School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
| | - Torbern Tagesson
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden; Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Xing Li
- Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jingfeng Xiao
- Earth Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA
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Jiang G, Wang S, Xie J, Tan P, Han L. Discontinuous low temperature stress and plant growth regulators during the germination period promote roots growth in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). PLANT PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY : PPB 2023; 197:107624. [PMID: 36948023 DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.03.001] [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: 10/29/2022] [Revised: 02/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
In high-cold regions, alfalfa is susceptible to cold damage during the seed germination. The effects of discontinuous low temperature stress and plant growth regulators (PGRs) on alfalfa were studied in response to the high day/night temperature differentials in the area. The experiments included seed germination, seedling cold tolerance and plant recovery. Variable temperatures (VT) of 0 °C/15 °C, 5 °C/20 °C and 10 °C/25 °C were set and seeds were soaked with alginate oligosaccharides (AOS), brassinolide (BR) and diethyl aminoethyl hexanoate (DA-6) during the germination period. Parameters such as seed germination and mean germination time (MGT), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity and oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC) content of early seedlings, dry matter accumulation and root crown of the restored plants were analysed. The results showed that low variable-temperature (LVT) stress prolonged the MGT but had little inhibitory effect on germination percentage. Early seedlings adapted to LVT stress by regulating their own water and OPC content, PAL activity and other parameters. LVT induced early alfalfa seedlings to increase their underground biomass by shortening root length and increasing root diameter, and those that had accumulated more underground biomass had faster growth rates and higher total biomass when the ambient temperature rose. AOS also promoted an increase in root crown diameter and root dry weight. This research proved that LVT stress and AOS during the germination process can lead to better growth of alfalfa in high cold regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaoqian Jiang
- Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Hebei Key Laboratory of Soil Ecology / Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050022, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Shichao Wang
- Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Hebei Key Laboratory of Soil Ecology / Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050022, China
| | - Jin Xie
- Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Hebei Key Laboratory of Soil Ecology / Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050022, China
| | - Pan Tan
- Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Hebei Key Laboratory of Soil Ecology / Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050022, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Lipu Han
- Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Hebei Key Laboratory of Soil Ecology / Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050022, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Cui G, Pugnaire FI, Yang L, Zhao W, Ale R, Shen W, Luo T, Liang E, Zhang L. Shrub-mediated effects on soil nitrogen determines shrub-herbaceous interactions in drylands of the Tibetan Plateau. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1137365. [PMID: 36844071 PMCID: PMC9950575 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1137365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Shrub promotes the survival, growth and reproduction of understory species by buffering the environmental extremes and improving limited resources (i.e., facilitation effect) in arid and semiarid regions. However, the importance of soil water and nutrient availability on shrub facilitation, and its trend along a drought gradient have been relatively less addressed in water-limited systems. METHODS We investigated species richness, plant size, soil total nitrogen and dominant grass leaf δ13C within and outside the dominant leguminous cushion-like shrub Caragana versicolor along a water deficit gradient in drylands of Tibetan Plateau. RESULTS We found that C. versicolor increased grass species richness but had a negative effect on annual and perennial forbs. Along the water deficit gradient, plant interaction assessed by species richness (RIIspecies) showed a unimodal pattern with shift from increase to decrease, while plant interaction assessed by plant size (RIIsize) did not vary significantly. The effect of C. versicolor on soil nitrogen, rather than water availability, determined its overall effect on understory species richness. Neither the effect of C. versicolor on soil nitrogen nor water availability affected plant size. DISCUSSION Our study suggests that the drying tendency in association with the recent warming trends observed in drylands of Tibetan Plateau, will likely hinder the facilitation effect of nurse leguminous shrub on understories if moisture availability crosses a critical minimum threshold.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guangshuai Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System Science, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Almería, Spain
| | - Francisco I. Pugnaire
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Almería, Spain
| | - Liu Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System Science, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Wanglin Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System Science, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Rita Ale
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System Science, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Wei Shen
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System Science, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Tianxiang Luo
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System Science, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Eryuan Liang
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System Science, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Lin Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System Science, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Science and Technology Information of Tibet Autonomous Region, Lhasa, China
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Liu Z, Chen R, Qi J, Dang Z, Han C, Yang Y. Control of Mosses on Water Flux in an Alpine Shrub Site on the Qilian Mountains, Northwest China. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 11:3111. [PMID: 36432840 PMCID: PMC9692250 DOI: 10.3390/plants11223111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2022] [Revised: 11/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Mosses are an important component of the alpine shrub, but little is known about their contribution to ecosystem water and energy exchange, especially potential opportunities for alpine shrub expansion under a warming climate. We studied the role of mosses in alpine shrub evapotranspiration by conducting herb and moss removal experiments with different Potentilla fruticosa L. shrub coverage in the Qilian Mountains, Northwest China. The understory evapotranspiration was measured using lysimeters in different shrub coverage (dense shrub cover, medium shrub cover, and thin shrub cover) during the growing season of 2012. The understory evapotranspiration is about 1.61 mm per day in the control treatment (intact moss and herbs) during the growing season, and the evapotranspiration rates differed significantly between canopy covers. We found a 22% increase in evapotranspiration losses after removing the moss layer compared to the control treatment lysimeter with an intact moss layer in the shrub site. This suggests that most of the understory evaporation originated from the organic layer underlying the moss layer. Given this study's large moss evaporation rates, understory contributions cannot be ignored when interpreting eddy covariance data for the whole alpine ecosystem. Our results show that mosses may exert strong controls on understory water fluxes in alpine shrub meadow ecosystems and suggest that changes in moss cover may have significant consequences for season frozen soil thaw.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhangwen Liu
- Qilian Alpine Ecology and Hydrology Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Rensheng Chen
- Qilian Alpine Ecology and Hydrology Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
- College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwestern University, Xi’an 710127, China
| | - Jinxian Qi
- Qilian Forestry and Grassland Administration/Qilian Management Branch of Qilian Mountain National Park (Qinghai), Qilian County 810400, China
| | - Zhiying Dang
- Qilian Forestry and Grassland Administration/Qilian Management Branch of Qilian Mountain National Park (Qinghai), Qilian County 810400, China
| | - Chuntan Han
- Qilian Alpine Ecology and Hydrology Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Yong Yang
- Qilian Alpine Ecology and Hydrology Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Alpine shrub growth follows bimodal seasonal patterns across biomes - unexpected environmental controls. Commun Biol 2022; 5:793. [PMID: 35933562 PMCID: PMC9357034 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03741-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Under climate change, cold-adapted alpine ecosystems are turning into hotspots of warming. However, the complexity of driving forces of growth, associated biomass gain and carbon storage of alpine shrubs is poorly understood. We monitored alpine growth mechanisms of six common shrub species across contrasting biomes, Mediterranean and tundra, using 257 dendrometers, recording stem diameter variability at high temporal resolution. Linking shrub growth to on-site environmental conditions, we modelled intra-annual growth patterns based on distributed lag non-linear models implemented with generalized additive models. We found pronounced bimodal growth patterns across biomes, and counterintuitively, within the cold-adapted biome, moisture, and within the drought-adapted biome, temperature was crucial, with unexpected consequences. In a warmer world, the Mediterranean alpine might experience strong vegetation shifts, biomass gain and greening, while the alpine tundra might see less changes in vegetation patterns, minor modifications of biomass stocks and rather browning. Generalized additive models reveal an unexpected environmental control in shrub growth across biomes.
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11
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Che C, Xiao S, Ding A, Peng X, Su J. The Characteristics of Radial Growth and Ecological Response of Caragana korshinskii Kom. Under Different Precipitation Gradient in the Western Loess Plateau, China. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:862529. [PMID: 35463428 PMCID: PMC9024371 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.862529] [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: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the temporal-spatial variability of tree radial growth and ecological response is the basis for assessing forest vulnerability in sight of climate change. We studied stands of the shrub Caragana korshinskii Kom. at four sampling sites (natural forest CL and plantation forests XZJ, CK and TPX) that spanned the different precipitation gradient (180-415 mm) across China's western Loess Plateau, and demonstrated its radial growth dynamics and ecological response. We found that the growth of natural C. korshinskii in arid regions have adapted and cope with regional environmental changes and radial growth was less affected by drought stress. However, the growth of planted C. korshinskii was significantly affected by drought stress in arid and semi-arid regions, especially during the growing season (from June to September). Variations in radial growth rates and growth indicators such as shrub height, canopy area are consistent with the climate-growth relationship. With increase of precipitation, the limiting of drought on the growth of planted C. korshinskii gradually decreased and the amount of radial growth variation explained by drought decreased from 53.8 to 34.2% and 22.3% from 270 to 399 and 415 mm of precipitation, respectively. The age-related radial growth trend shows that radial growth increased until 4 years of age, then decreased rapidly until 12-14 years of age, and then eventually tend to stabilized. In the context of climate warming and humidification, increased precipitation and regular branch coppicing management at around 12 years old will help to mitigate the limitation of drought on the growth of C. korshinskii. Moreover, the initial planting density should be tailored to local precipitation conditions (below 5,000 shrubs per hectare). The above results have important practical significance for the maintenance of the stability and sustainable management of plantation forests in the western Loess Plateau.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cunwei Che
- Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Shengchun Xiao
- Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| | - Aijun Ding
- Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Xiaomei Peng
- Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| | - Jingrong Su
- Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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