Effects of irrigation on community composition and carbon uptake in Pannonian loess grassland monoliths

Czóbel, Szilárd; Szirmai, Orsolya; Nagy, János; Balogh, János; Ürmös, Zs.; Péli, Evelin Ramóna; Tuba, Zoltán

doi:10.1556/comec.9.2008.s.13

Cited by 14 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…These results of increased FD after drier conditions are in line with previous experimental studies in grasslands reporting negative effects of irrigation on species diversity (Suttle, Thomsen & Power ; Czóbel et al . ), but contrast with others that found positive effects (Zavaleta et al . ; Harpole, Potts & Suding ) or a limited impact of moister conditions on species richness and diversity (Collins et al .…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 69%

Climate variability and community stability in Mediterranean shrublands: the role of functional diversity and soil environment

et al. 2017

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Summary Understanding how different factors mediate the resistance of communities to climatic variability is a question of considerable ecological interest that remains mostly unresolved. This is particularly remarkable to improve predictions about the impact of climate change on vegetation. Here, we used a trait‐based approach to analyse the sensitivity to climatic variability over 9 years of 19 Mediterranean shrubland communities located in southwest Spain. We evaluated the role of functional diversity (FD) and soil environment as drivers of community stability (assessed as changes in plant cover, species diversity and composition). The studied shrubland communities were strongly sensitive to inter‐annual variability in climate. First, colder and drier conditions caused remarkable decreases in total plant cover but increased FD, likely because the reduction of plant cover after harsh climatic conditions promoted the expansion of functionally dissimilar species in the new open microsites; although communities returned to their initial values of plant cover after nine years, changes in FD and structure persisted over time. Second, drier and colder conditions favoured the predominance of shrubs with a conservative resource‐use strategy (i.e. with higher dry matter content in leaves, stems and roots), bigger seeds and a more efficient use of water. The most functionally diverse communities were the most stable over time in terms of species diversity, likely because a higher number of functionally dissimilar species allowed compensatory dynamics among them. Communities inhabiting more acidic and resource‐limited environments were less variable over time, probably because they were mainly constituted by slow‐growth, stress‐tolerant species that are potentially better adapted to harsh climatic conditions. Synthesis. This study highlights the utility of a trait‐based approach to evaluate how plant communities respond to climatic variability. We could infer that the increased frequency of extreme climatic events predicted by climatic models will alter the functional structure of shrubland communities, with potential repercussions for ecosystem functioning. Our results also provide new insights into the role of FD and soil environment as buffers of the climate impact on woody communities, as well as potentially useful information to be applied in ecologically based management and restoration strategies.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 69%

Climate variability and community stability in Mediterranean shrublands: the role of functional diversity and soil environment

et al. 2017

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“…In some cases diversity increased with an increase in soil moisture (Zavaleta et al. 2003; Harpole, Potts & Suding 2007), some found no significant effect (Goldberg & Miller 1990; Harpole, Potts & Suding 2007), whereas others showed rapid negative effects of irrigation on grassland diversity (Suttle, Thomsen & Power 2007; Czóbel et al. 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other grasslands have shown rapid shifts in composition and structure in response to water additions (Grime et al. 2000; Suttle, Thomsen & Power 2007; Czóbel et al. 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of tallgrass prairie during a 19‐year increase in growing season precipitation

Collins¹,

et al. 2012

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Summary1. Precipitation is considered to be a key driver of ecosystem processes in mesic grasslands, and climate models predict changes in the amount and intensity of precipitation under future global change scenarios. Although most experimental rainfall studies decrease precipitation, seasonal rainfall is predicted to increase in the northern Great Plains under climate change. 2. We analysed changes in community composition and structure of upland and lowland native tallgrass prairie in central Kansas, USA, subjected to 19 years of irrigation designed to eliminate moisture stress throughout the growing season. 3. Irrigation had limited effects on species richness in both upland and lowland prairie. Total cover increased significantly and consistently with irrigation in drier uplands and in more mesic lowlands. Abundance of rhizomatous, tall, perennial species as well as C 3 forbs increased with irrigation. 4. The strongest response to irrigation came within the dominant functional type, C 4 perennial grasses. Panicum virgatum became the dominant species in irrigated lowlands, whereas Andropogon gerardii remained the dominant species in irrigated uplands and in control plots. Overall, irrigation had less effect on community composition and structure than other known drivers of grassland structure and function. 5. In comparison with other studies, our results demonstrate that water addition has less of an impact than fire, grazing or nitrogen addition on composition and dynamics in this mesic grassland. The strongest response to long-term irrigation occurred within the dominant functional type: tall, perennial, rhizomatous, C 4 grasses. Thus, functional redundancy will buffer this ecosystem from potential increases in rainfall due to climate change. Finally, our results highlight the limited utility of qualitative functional traits to predict how this mesic grassland will respond to climate change.

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“…Besides the increasing temperature, the alteration of the actually observed and predicted precipitation is the most hazardous for the ecosystems of the Carpathian Basin (Czóbel et al 2010). However the responses of the ecosystems to these changes have been slightly explored so far (Czóbel et al 2008). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examination the health state with instrumental measurements and the diversity of sessile oak stands in Zemplén mountains

et al. 2017

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Researching the naturalness of forests has been becoming more and more pronounced in Hungary, since the forest’s ecosystems are also concerned by the biosphere crisis, that is a global degradation of the biotic environment. This deterioration could be observed not only through the decrease of the extention of the forests, but also through the altering of their structures. FAKOPP 3D Acoustic Tomograph have been used and coenological surveys have been carried out in 3 different layers. The examinations have been accomplished in sessile oak stands of the Zemplén Mountains, within 5 different age groups. According to the results of the instrumental measurements – except the youngest age group – the highest value of the rottenness is located in the closest layer to the topsoil, then upwards on the trunk it shows decreasing tendency. Among the stands the 80 years old age group proved to be the healthiest, while the 20 years old group had the worst values. Based on the Shannon and Simpson diversity, the most diverse age group in the ground layer is the 60 years old group, while in the canopy is the 80 years old group. The rottenness measured in the younger stands concerned the higher parts of the trunks and it has presumably evolved because of the frost cracks. The diversity values of the shrub and the ground layer followed the same tendency.

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Effects of irrigation on community composition and carbon uptake in Pannonian loess grassland monoliths

Cited by 14 publications

References 21 publications

Climate variability and community stability in Mediterranean shrublands: the role of functional diversity and soil environment

Climate variability and community stability in Mediterranean shrublands: the role of functional diversity and soil environment

Stability of tallgrass prairie during a 19‐year increase in growing season precipitation

Examination the health state with instrumental measurements and the diversity of sessile oak stands in Zemplén mountains

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