Herbicide and fertilizers promote analogous phylogenetic responses but opposite functional responses in plant communities

Abstract

Throughout the world, herbicides and fertilizers change species composition in agricultural communities, but how do the cumulative effects of these chemicals impact the functional and phylogenetic structure of non-targeted communities when they drift into adjacent semi-natural habitats? Based on long-term experiment we show that fertilizer and herbicides (glyphosate) have contrasting effects on functional structure, but can increase phylogenetic diversity in semi-natural plant communities. We found that an increase in nitrogen promoted an increase in the average specific leaf area and canopy height at the community level, but an increase in glyphosate promoted a decrease in those traits. Phylogenetic diversity of plant communities increased when herbicide and fertilizer were applied together, likely because functional traits facilitating plant success in those conditions were not phylogenetically conserved. Species richness also decreased with increasing levels of nitrogen and glyphosate. Our results suggest that predicting the cumulative effects of agrochemicals is more complex than anticipated due to their distinct selection of traits that may or may not be conserved phylogenetically. Precautionary efforts to mitigate drift of agricultural chemicals into semi-natural habitats are warranted to prevent unforeseeable biodiversity shifts.

Insights into the Effects of Simulated Nitrogen Deposition on Leaf Functional Traits of Rhus Typhina

“…This study also revealed that leaf width, leaf chlorophyll and N concentrations, SLA, and single leaf wet weight of R. typhina increased in the presence of all N fertilizers; medium N and high N also increased leaf length and leaf thickness of R. typhina (Table 1). The result is consistent with our hypothesis and previous studies [15,32]. This implied that R. typhina leaves may possess higher resource capture ability as well as higher relative growth rate with reduce material investment per unit area under exogenous N fertilization.…”

“…Thus, plants can present stimulated growth and physiological performance under elevated N supply mainly via eliminating N defi ciency [9][10]. Generally, N fertilization could increase leaf size, leaf chlorophyll and N concentrations, and SLA [15,32]. This study also revealed that leaf width, leaf chlorophyll and N concentrations, SLA, and single leaf wet weight of R. typhina increased in the presence of all N fertilizers; medium N and high N also increased leaf length and leaf thickness of R. typhina (Table 1).…”

Analyzing community‐weighted trait means across environmental gradients: should phylogeny stay or should it go?

“…Inference about the consequences of PNC on functional composition (CWM) has been usually made indirectly via estimates of phylogenetic signal in traits (e.g. Cavender-Bares and Reich 2012, Pellissier et al 2014), mostly using the K statistic (Blomberg et al 2003, Cooper et al 2010. PNC assessment via phylogenetic signal estimates has been a topic of heated debate over the last decade (Losos 2008, Wiens 2008.…”

Monitoring van functionele agrobiodiversiteit in de melkveehouderij : Ontwikkeling van KPI's

“…Het gebruik van herbiciden op grasland ter beheersing van (on)kruiden leidt tot een verarming van de botanische samenstelling van grasland, wat resulteert in een lagere ondergrondse en bovengrondse biodiversiteit. De drift van herbiciden naar aangrenzende habitats zorgt daar ook voor veranderingen in biodiversiteit (Pellissier et al, 2014). Als herbiciden echter gebruikt worden als onderhoudsmaatregel om graslandvernieuwing door middel van herinzaai te voorkomen, dan zijn ze te prefereren boven het scheuren van grasland.…”