Experimentally induced drought and growing season stage modulate community-level functional traits in a temperate grassland

Abstract

1.Extreme precipitation events are expected to become more intense and frequent with climate change. This climatic shift may impact the structure and dynamics of natural communities and the key ecosystem services they provide. Changes in species abundance under these extreme conditions are thought to be driven by functional traits, morpho-physiological characteristics of an organism that impact its fitness. Future environmental conditions may, therefore, favour different functional traits to those in present-day communities. 2. Here, we measure functional traits on 586 vascular plants in a temperate grassland where precipitation has been experimentally manipulated for six years. We calculated community-weighted means of five functional traits (plant height, leaf dry matter content, leaf thickness, specific leaf area, and leaf phosphorus concentration) and compared community-weighted means between three levels of precipitation: drought (-50%), irrigated (+50%), and control. Additionally, we contrasted treatments at two different timings along the growing season: mid-season and late-season. 3. We expected altered community-weighted means for traits associated with a conservative use of water that will result from increased summer stress-induced intraspecific variability in the mid-season and from community composition changes in the late-season, after the field is cut, a common management action across most European grasslands. 4. In the drought treatment, we found significantly lower community-weighted mean plant height and leaf dry matter content. However, we only observed these differences after the mid-season cut. We also observed an increase in leaf phosphorus concentration in the drought treatment before the mid-season cut. A combination of changes in community composition and intraspecific variation contributed to these differences, with community composition being more important after the cut. Species with higher height, leaf dry matter content, and lower leaf thickness showed a more pronounced abundance decline at the drought plots. We observed no changes in functional traits community-weighted means in the irrigated treatment compared to those in control and drought treatments. 5. Synthesis. Our results suggest how the functional trait composition of grassland communities may shift under climate change-induced drought, stressing the interacting effects with growing season stages.

A video-rate hyperspectral camera for monitoring plant health and biodiversity

“…This pattern is consistent with the appearance of the leaf, which shows regions of yellow/brown discolouration. It is also seen that the 670 nm trough for this sample is not as deep as for the control and drought samples, which may indicate reduced chlorophyll absorption, consistent with the known effects of this treatment at the examined site 44,45. It is also interesting to consider the differences in reflectance in the near-infrared region of the spectrum.…”

“…1 Here, the drought and irrigation samples are less reflective than the control sample, which could indicate differences in tissue structure and health, also supported by functional-trait approaches at this site. 44…”

“…It is also seen that the 670 nm trough for this sample is not as deep as for the control and drought samples, which may indicate reduced chlorophyll absorption, consistent with the known effects of this treatment at the examined site. 44, 45…”

A video-rate hyperspectral camera for monitoring plant health and biodiversity

“…1 H ere, t he d rought and irrigation samples are less reflective than the control sample, which could indicate differences in tissue structure and health, also supported by functional-trait approaches at this site. 44 Given the small number of samples tested here, it is not possible to draw conclusions as to the cause of the differences between these spectra, or to relate these to their growth environments. However, hyperspectral data cubes collected in this way are rich in information and ripe for further exploration.…”

“…It is also seen that the 670 nm trough for this sample is not as deep as for the control and drought samples, which may indicate reduced chlorophyll absorption, consistent with the known effects o f t his t reatment a t t he e xamined site. 44,45 It is also interesting to consider the differences i n r eflectance in th e ne ar-infrared re gion of th e spectrum. High reflectivity i n t he 7 00 -1 100 n m r ange i s c aused b y i ntercellular l ight s cattering.…”