1
|
Yaffar D, Lugli LF, Wong MY, Norby RJ, Addo-Danso SD, Arnaud M, Cordeiro AL, Dietterich LH, Diaz-Toribio MH, Lee MY, Ghimire OP, Smith-Martin CM, Toro L, Andersen K, McCulloch LA, Meier IC, Powers JS, Sanchez-Julia M, Soper FM, Cusack DF. Tropical root responses to global changes: A synthesis. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17420. [PMID: 39044411 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17420] [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: 12/31/2023] [Revised: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 06/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/25/2024]
Abstract
Tropical ecosystems face escalating global change. These shifts can disrupt tropical forests' carbon (C) balance and impact root dynamics. Since roots perform essential functions such as resource acquisition and tissue protection, root responses can inform about the strategies and vulnerabilities of ecosystems facing present and future global changes. However, root trait dynamics are poorly understood, especially in tropical ecosystems. We analyzed existing research on tropical root responses to key global change drivers: warming, drought, flooding, cyclones, nitrogen (N) deposition, elevated (e) CO2, and fires. Based on tree species- and community-level literature, we obtained 266 root trait observations from 93 studies across 24 tropical countries. We found differences in the proportion of root responsiveness to global change among different global change drivers but not among root categories. In particular, we observed that tropical root systems responded to warming and eCO2 by increasing root biomass in species-scale studies. Drought increased the root: shoot ratio with no change in root biomass, indicating a decline in aboveground biomass. Despite N deposition being the most studied global change driver, it had some of the most variable effects on root characteristics, with few predictable responses. Episodic disturbances such as cyclones, fires, and flooding consistently resulted in a change in root trait expressions, with cyclones and fires increasing root production, potentially due to shifts in plant community and nutrient inputs, while flooding changed plant regulatory metabolisms due to low oxygen conditions. The data available to date clearly show that tropical forest root characteristics and dynamics are responding to global change, although in ways that are not always predictable. This synthesis indicates the need for replicated studies across root characteristics at species and community scales under different global change factors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Yaffar
- Environmental Science Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
- Functional Forest Ecology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Laynara F Lugli
- School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany
| | - Michelle Y Wong
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, USA
| | - Richard J Norby
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Shalom D Addo-Danso
- Forest and Climate Change Division, CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Marie Arnaud
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INRAE, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IEES), Paris, France
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Amanda L Cordeiro
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
| | - Lee H Dietterich
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
- Department of Biology, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Milton H Diaz-Toribio
- Jardín Botánico Francisco Javier Clavijero, Instituto de Ecología, A.C. Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
| | - Ming Y Lee
- Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Om Prakash Ghimire
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, USA
| | - Chris M Smith-Martin
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Laura Toro
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
- Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Kelly Andersen
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
- Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Lindsay A McCulloch
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - Ina C Meier
- Functional Forest Ecology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Jennifer S Powers
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Mareli Sanchez-Julia
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Fiona M Soper
- Department of Biology and Bieler School of Environment, McGill University, Montreal, Qubec, Canada
| | - Daniela F Cusack
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Colón Carrión N, Troche CL, Arnold AE. Communities of endophytic fungi in a Puerto Rican rainforest vary along a gradient of disturbance due to Hurricane Maria. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9618. [PMID: 36532133 PMCID: PMC9750846 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2022] [Revised: 09/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Increases in the frequency and intensity of hurricanes influence the structure, function, and resilience of Caribbean forests. Trees in such forests harbor diverse fungal endophytes within leaves and roots. Fungal endophytes often are important for plant health and stress responses, but how their communities are impacted by hurricanes is not well known. We measured forest disturbance in Carite State Forest in Puerto Rico ca. 16 months after the passage of Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm. In three sites, each comprising three plots representing a local gradient of hurricane disturbance, we evaluated soil chemistry and used culture-free analyses to measure richness, phylogenetic diversity, and composition of endophyte communities in leaves and roots. We found that endophyte richness did not vary significantly among plant families or as a function of soil chemistry. Instead, leaf endophytes peaked in richness and decreased in phylogenetic diversity at intermediate levels of disturbance. Root endophytes did not show such variation, but both leaf- and root endophyte communities differed in species composition as a function of disturbance across the forest. Locations with less disturbance typically hosted distinctive assemblages of foliar endophytes, whereas more disturbed locations had more regionally homogeneous endophyte communities. Together, our results show that changes in endophyte richness and phylogenetic diversity can be detected in aboveground tissues more than a year after major storms. In turn, pervasive shifts in endophyte community composition both aboveground and belowground suggest a subtle and lasting effect of hurricanes that merits further study, potentially contributing to the promotion of spatially heterogeneous endophyte assemblages at a landscape scale in these diverse island forests.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - A. Elizabeth Arnold
- School of Plant SciencesUniversity of ArizonaTucsonArizonaUSA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of ArizonaTucsonArizonaUSA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Eaton WD, McGee KM, Alderfer K, Jimenez AR, Hajibabaei M. Increase in abundance and decrease in richness of soil microbes following Hurricane Otto in three primary forest types in the Northern Zone of Costa Rica. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0231187. [PMID: 32730267 PMCID: PMC7392270 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2020] [Accepted: 07/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Little is known of how hurricane-induced deposition of canopy material onto tropical forest floors influences the soil microbial communities involved in decomposition of these materials. In this study, to identify how soil bacterial and fungal communities might change after a hurricane, and their possible roles in the C and N cycles, soils were collected from five 2000 m2 permanent plots in Lowland, Upland and Riparian primary forests in Costa Rica 3 months before and 7 months after Hurricane Otto damaged the forests. The soil Water, inorganic N and Biomass C increased and total organic C decreased Post-Hurricane, all of which best predicted the changes in the Post-Hurricane soil microbial communities. Post-Hurricane soils from all forest types showed significant changes in community composition of total bacteria, total fungi, and five functional groups of microbes (i.e., degrading/lignin degrading, NH4+-producing, and ammonium oxidizing bacteria, and the complex C degrading/wood rot/lignin degrading and ectomycorrhizal fungi), along with a decrease in richness in genera of all groups. As well, the mean proportion of DNA sequences (MPS) of all five functional groups increased. There were also significant changes in the MPS values of 7 different fungal and 7 different bacterial genera that were part of these functional groups. This is the first evidence that hurricane-induced deposition of canopy material is stimulating changes in the soil microbial communities after the hurricane, involving changes in specific taxonomic and functional group genera, and reduction in the community richness while selecting for dominant genera possibly better suited to process the canopy material. These changes may represent examples of taxonomic switching of functionally redundant microbial genera in response to dramatic changes in resource input. It is possible that differences in these microbial communities and genera may serve as indicators of disturbed and recovering regional soil ecosystems, and should be evaluated in the future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William D. Eaton
- Biology Department, Pace University, New York, NY, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Katie M. McGee
- Department of Integrative Biology, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Kiley Alderfer
- Biology Department, Pace University, New York, NY, United States of America
| | | | - Mehrdad Hajibabaei
- Department of Integrative Biology, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Gutiérrez Del Arroyo O, Silver WL. Disentangling the long-term effects of disturbance on soil biogeochemistry in a wet tropical forest ecosystem. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2018; 24:1673-1684. [PMID: 29265556 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2017] [Revised: 11/24/2017] [Accepted: 11/28/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Climate change is increasing the intensity of severe tropical storms and cyclones (also referred to as hurricanes or typhoons), with major implications for tropical forest structure and function. These changes in disturbance regime are likely to play an important role in regulating ecosystem carbon (C) and nutrient dynamics in tropical and subtropical forests. Canopy opening and debris deposition resulting from severe storms have complex and interacting effects on ecosystem biogeochemistry. Disentangling these complex effects will be critical to better understand the long-term implications of climate change on ecosystem C and nutrient dynamics. In this study, we used a well-replicated, long-term (10 years) canopy and debris manipulation experiment in a wet tropical forest to determine the separate and combined effects of canopy opening and debris deposition on soil C and nutrients throughout the soil profile (1 m). Debris deposition alone resulted in higher soil C and N concentrations, both at the surface (0-10 cm) and at depth (50-80 cm). Concentrations of NaOH-organic P also increased significantly in the debris deposition only treatment (20-90 cm depth), as did NaOH-total P (20-50 cm depth). Canopy opening, both with and without debris deposition, significantly increased NaOH-inorganic P concentrations from 70 to 90 cm depth. Soil iron concentrations were a strong predictor of both C and P patterns throughout the soil profile. Our results demonstrate that both surface- and subsoils have the potential to significantly increase C and nutrient storage a decade after the sudden deposition of disturbance-related organic debris. Our results also show that these effects may be partially offset by rapid decomposition and decreases in litterfall associated with canopy opening. The significant effects of debris deposition on soil C and nutrient concentrations at depth (>50 cm), suggest that deep soils are more dynamic than previously believed, and can serve as sinks of C and nutrients derived from disturbance-induced pulses of organic matter inputs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Omar Gutiérrez Del Arroyo
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Whendee L Silver
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Ulyshen MD, Shefferson R, Horn S, Taylor MK, Bush B, Brownie C, Seibold S, Strickland MS. Below- and above-ground effects of deadwood and termites in plantation forests. Ecosphere 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Michael D. Ulyshen
- USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station; 320 Green Street Athens Georgia 30602 USA
| | - Richard Shefferson
- Organization for Programs on Environmental Sciences; Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; University of Tokyo; 3-8-1 Komaba Meguro-ku Tokyo 153-8902 Japan
| | - Scott Horn
- USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station; 320 Green Street Athens Georgia 30602 USA
| | - Melanie K. Taylor
- USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station; 320 Green Street Athens Georgia 30602 USA
| | - Bryana Bush
- Department of Entomology; University of Georgia; Biological Sciences Building Athens Georgia 30602 USA
| | - Cavell Brownie
- North Carolina State University; Raleigh North Carolina 27695 USA
| | - Sebastian Seibold
- Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management; Technische Universität München; Hans-Carl-von- Carlowitz-Platz 2 Freising 85354 Germany
| | - Michael S. Strickland
- Department of Biological Sciences; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; 926 West Campus Dr Blacksburg Virginia 24061 USA
- Department of Soil and Water Systems; University of Idaho; Moscow Idaho 83844 USA
| |
Collapse
|