Experimental warming altered plant functional traits and their coordination in a permafrost ecosystem

Abstract

Summary Knowledge about changes in plant functional traits is valuable for the mechanistic understanding of warming effects on ecosystem functions. However, observations have tended to focus on aboveground plant traits, and there is little information about changes in belowground plant traits or the coordination of above‐ and belowground traits under climate warming, particularly in permafrost ecosystems. Based on a 7‐yr field warming experiment, we measured 26 above‐ and belowground plant traits of four dominant species, and explored community functional composition and trait networks in response to experimental warming in a permafrost ecosystem on the Tibetan Plateau. Experimental warming shifted community‐level functional traits toward more acquisitive values, with earlier green‐up, greater plant height, larger leaves, higher photosynthetic resource‐use efficiency, thinner roots, and greater specific root length and root nutrient concentrations. However, warming had a negligible effect in terms of functional diversity. In addition, warming shifted hub traits which have the highest centrality in the network from specific root area to leaf area. These results demonstrate that above‐ and belowground traits exhibit consistent adaptive strategies, with more acquisitive traits in warmer environments. Such changes could provide an adaptive advantage for plants in response to environmental change.

Decoupling of uptake‐ and transport‐related traits in absorptive roots across coexisting herbaceous species in alpine meadows

“…In this context, some manipulated experiments have also demonstrated that increased precipitation has no significant effects on soil nutrient availability and community biomass in alpine meadows of the Tibetan Plateau (Hu et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2017Zhang et al, , 2019. By contrast, increased temperature significantly enhances plant community biomass and leaf nutrient concentrations in the meadows of the Tibetan Plateau, indicating an increase in soil nutrient availability by elevated temperature (Wei et al, 2023;. We observed that soil water and nutrient availability in the three sites of our study did not change in a coordinated manner but rather varied independently (Figure S6a,b).…”

Variations in permafrost environments determine populations and leaf traits of two closely related common shrub species (Rhododendron subsect. Ledum) in Interior Alaska

“… Wei et al (2023). show that within-species phenotypic plasticity of dominant understory species, rather than species turnover, alters the community-level traits in a warming experiment.…”

Warming affects leaf light use efficiency and functional traits in alpine plants: evidence from a 4-year in-situ field experiment

“…Warming can increase air and soil temperature, leading to a reduction in soil moisture, which in turn affects plant photosynthetic capacity and LUE ( Forkel et al., 2016 ; Allison et al., 2018 ). Warming also caused a shift in plant functional traits, leading to an increase in acquisitive characteristics such as larger leaves, higher photosynthetic resource-use efficiency, thinner roots, and greater specific root length and nutrient concentrations ( Wei et al., 2023 ). Yao et al.…”

“…(2022) , experimental warming did not alter the content of soil organic carbon (SOC) during the growing season in an alpine meadow. Wei et al. (2023) demonstrated that plants exhibit consistent adaptive strategies in both above- and belowground traits, favoring more acquisitive traits in warmer environments.…”