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Zhou Y, Chang S, Huang X, Wang W, Hou F, Wang Y, Nan Z. Assembly of typical steppe community and functional groups along the precipitation gradient from 1985 to 2022. Sci Total Environ 2024; 906:167545. [PMID: 37793455 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Revised: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 09/30/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
Long-term observations have shown that structure and function of grasslands have changed due to climate change over the past decades. However, little is known about how grasslands respond to climate change along the precipitation gradient, and potential mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we utilize a long-term experiment in typical steppe to explore universal and differential mechanisms of community and functional groups assembly along the precipitation gradient. Our results indicated that the sensitivity of community and functional groups assembly to climate change was related to local precipitation. The strength of the positive effects of climate change on aboveground biomass, species richness, and their relationship of community decreased modestly with local precipitation. The mechanism behind this was the change in plant community composition of the precipitation-induced, annuals that was more responsive to climate change decreased as increased local precipitation. Furthermore, current and past climate both drove community and functional group assembly, and the role of past climate diminished with increasing local precipitation. Among them, climate fluctuation, average climate and current climate were the most critical climate indicators affecting community and functional groups assembly in low, medium and high precipitation sites, respectively. In conclusion, climatic change do not always exert identical effects on grasslands along the precipitation gradient. This could be critical importance for improving our ability to predict future changes in grassland ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry, Ministry of Education, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China; Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China
| | - Shenghua Chang
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry, Ministry of Education, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China; Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China
| | - Xiaojuan Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry, Ministry of Education, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China; Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China
| | - Wenjun Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry, Ministry of Education, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China; Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China
| | - Fujiang Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry, Ministry of Education, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China; Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China.
| | - Yanrong Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry, Ministry of Education, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China; Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China
| | - Zhibiao Nan
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry, Ministry of Education, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China; Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China
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