Divergent responses of primary production to increasing precipitation variability in global drylands

Hou, Enqing; Litvak, M. E.; Rudgers, Jennifer A.; Jiang, Lifen; Collins, Scott L.; Pockman, William T.; Hui, Dafeng; Niu, Shuli; Luo, Yiqi

doi:10.1111/gcb.15801

Cited by 36 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The changes in plant functional composition and the asymmetry response of root growth to above‐ and below‐ambient precipitation variability contributed to our mechanistic understanding of the above observations. The findings were consistent with long‐term observations at drylands with low mean annual precipitation (Gherardi & Sala, 2019; Hou et al., 2021), which showed positive responses of ANPP to increased precipitation variability. In comparison with natural precipitation variability over long‐term observations, our study may not completely simulate the stochastic occurrence of wet and dry years.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…The changes in plant functional composition and the asymmetry response of root growth to aboveand below-ambient precipitation variability contributed to our mechanistic understanding of the above observations. The findings were consistent with long-term observations at drylands with low mean annual precipitation (Gherardi & Sala, 2019;Hou et al, 2021)…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Recent studies based on model simulation and global synthesis have demonstrated both increased (Hou et al., 2021) and declined (Gherardi & Sala, 2019; Sloat et al., 2018) productivity under intensified interannual precipitation variability. The overall evaluations at global scale provided us with a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem C sink responses to precipitation variability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Under extreme precipitation conditions, because of the limitation of nutrient or vegetation structure, the sensitivity of productivity is higher to dry than wet treatments (negative asymmetry). Despite the nonlinear model could better predict response of productivity to precipitation variability, its response patterns may be also influenced by environmental factors and ecosystem characteristics (Haverd et al., 2017; Hou et al., 2021). As a consequence, there still exist large uncertainties in assessing the effects of interannual precipitation variability on grassland C processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Increased interannual precipitation variability enhances the carbon sink in a semi‐arid grassland

Wan

Hui

et al. 2022

Functional Ecology

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Increased interannual precipitation variability enhances the carbon sink in a semi‐arid grassland

Wan

Hui

et al. 2022

Functional Ecology

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“…Our finding that relatively frequent, smaller events had lower GPP max and GCC max than the climatic normal precipitation patterns (although no significant effects were identified, Figures 2b and 3a) partly supports a previous finding that CO 2 fluxes declined under relatively high‐frequency precipitation events over a 4‐year experiment in a temperate grassland (Liu et al., 2017). Future work is required to explore how GPP max magnitude may respond to precipitation temporal repackaging in arid and semi‐arid ecosystems spanning a range of mean annual temperature and precipitation, which has been shown to further mediate ecosystem responses to increasing interannual variability of precipitation (Hou et al., 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precipitation temporal repackaging into fewer, larger storms delayed seasonal timing of peak photosynthesis in a semi‐arid grassland

et al. 2021

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1. Against a backdrop of rising temperature, large portions of the western United States are experiencing fewer, larger and less frequent precipitation events.How such temporal 'repackaging' of precipitation alters the magnitude and timing of seasonal maximum gross primary productivity (GPP max ) remains unknown.Addressing this knowledge gap is critical, since changes to GPP max magnitude and timing can impact a range of ecosystem services and management decisions.2. Here we used a field-based precipitation manipulation experiment in a semi-arid mixed annual/perennial bunchgrass ecosystem with mean annual precipitation ~384 mm to investigate how temporal repackaging of a fixed total seasonal precipitation amount impacts seasonal GPP max and its timing.3. We found that temporal repackaging of precipitation profoundly influenced the seasonal timing of GPP max . Many/small precipitation events advanced the seasonal timing of GPP max by ~13 days in comparison with climatic normal precipitation. Conversely, few/large events led to deeper soil water infiltration, which delayed the timing of GPP max by up to 16 days in comparison with climatic normal precipitation, and altered end-of-season community composition by increasing the diversity of shallow-rooted annual plants. While GPP max magnitude did not differ across precipitation treatments, it was positively correlated with the abundance and biomass of deeper-rooted perennial bunchgrasses. The sensitivity of plant growth, biomass accumulation and plant life histories to the timing and magnitude of precipitation events and the resulting temporal patterns of soil moisture regulated ecosystem responses to altered precipitation patterns. 4. Our results highlight the sensitivity of semi-arid grassland ecosystem to the temporal repackaging of precipitation. We find that already-observed and modelforecasted shifts toward few/large precipitation events could drive significant delays in the timing of peak productivity for this ecosystem. Adaptive land management frameworks should consider these findings since shifts in peak ecosystem productivity would have major implications for multiple land user communities. Additional research is needed to better understand the role of | 647 Functional Ecology ZHANG et Al.

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Nitrogen rather than water availability limits aboveground primary productivity in an arid ecosystem: Substantial differences between grasses and shrubs

Carbonell‐Silletta,

Scholz,

Burek

et al. 2024

Ecohydrology

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Changes in water and nitrogen availability can affect the structure and function of arid ecosystems. How these resources affect aboveground primary productivity (ANPP) remains far from clear. We examined the N and water limitation of ANPP from the species to the community level and the response of ANPP to annual precipitation in a Patagonian steppe. We conducted a 7‐year field experiment with water addition (+W), nitrogen addition (+N) and +NW. Destructive methods for grasses and allometric relationships for shrubs were used to assess ANPP and vegetation indices (NDVI and MSAVI2) to estimate community ANPP. An increase in ANPP of one grass species (Papposstipa humilis) and a decrease of the grass Poa ligularis under +N were observed. Some shrub species exhibited mortality under nitrogen addition. Nitrogen exerted a positive effect on grass ANPP and amplified the sensitivity of grass ANPP to annual precipitation. However, +N had not effects on the shrub ANPP and shrub ANPP‐precipitation relationship. Water addition by itself had no effect on ANPP for either shrubs or grasses. However, shrubs responded positively to an unusually wet year regardless of treatment and were also more sensitive to changes in annual precipitation than grasses. Total ANPP increased significantly in +N relative to the C and +W but without changes in the sensitivity to annual precipitation. The results suggest that the responses of grasses and shrubs to water inputs are driven by soil moisture redistribution and rooting depth and that grass and community ANPP are more limited by N than by water.

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Divergent responses of primary production to increasing precipitation variability in global drylands

Abstract: Precipitation has become increasingly variable in the past century and will become more so in the coming decades due to climate warming (Seneviratne et al., 2012;Stocker, 2013). This increased variability can affect ecosystem services such as primary produc-

Cited by 36 publications

References 49 publications

Increased interannual precipitation variability enhances the carbon sink in a semi‐arid grassland

Increased interannual precipitation variability enhances the carbon sink in a semi‐arid grassland

Precipitation temporal repackaging into fewer, larger storms delayed seasonal timing of peak photosynthesis in a semi‐arid grassland

Nitrogen rather than water availability limits aboveground primary productivity in an arid ecosystem: Substantial differences between grasses and shrubs

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