High land‐use intensity exacerbates shifts in grassland vegetation composition after severe experimental drought

Stämpfli, Andreas; Bloor, Juliette; Fischer, Markus; Zeiter, Michaela

doi:10.1111/gcb.14046

Cited by 147 publications

(169 citation statements)

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“…Instead, we found that drought resistance of forbs promoted total plant biomass resistance. This confirms the importance of plant functional groups for grassland responses to drought (Fry et al, ; Stampfli et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Our simulation of severe summer drought across eight permanent grasslands demonstrated differences in the drought responses of above‐ground plant biomass and soil microbial biomass. Rainfall exclusion for a duration which has not recurred in 50 years (except for sites in the Central Alps, Stampfli et al, ), caused strong decreases in plant biomass at the end of drought, in line with previous field drought experiments (Hoover et al, ; Kahmen et al, ; Stampfli et al, ). Severe drought also decreased forage quality (increased plant C:N ratio), consistent with drought‐induced changes in plant physiology and leaf senescence (Van der Molen et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…Soil moisture content during drought was monitored using one soil moisture sensor (TMS3; TOMST ® Measuring System, Czech Republic) placed in each plot to a depth of 10 cm from the beginning of May 2014 until the end of October 2014. A sensor measuring dielectric soil water potential (MPS‐1; Decagon Devices, USA) was used to convert daily means of the soil moisture sensors into soil water potential values (Stampfli et al, ). Dry spell length per site and treatment (Table ) was calculated by summing the number of consecutive days when soil water potential was ψ < −100 kPa from the beginning of summer until post‐drought rewetting.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite variation in the level of drought resistance recorded for grassland biomass production, numerous studies suggest that the capacity of grasslands to recover function after drought is high (Hoover et al, ; Pimm, ). Plant biomass recovery after drought is generally fast, regaining ambient levels of production 1 year after the drought (Hoover et al, ; Mariotte, Vandenberghe, Kardol, Hagedom, & Buttler, ; Stampfli, Bloor, Fischer, & Zeiter, ; Yang et al, ). High abundance of grass species, with a capacity to pre‐empt nitrogen and space by rapid re‐sprouting from basal meristems may also contribute to fast biomass recovery in grassland systems (Stampfli et al, ; Volaire et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plant biomass recovery after drought is generally fast, regaining ambient levels of production 1 year after the drought (Hoover et al, ; Mariotte, Vandenberghe, Kardol, Hagedom, & Buttler, ; Stampfli, Bloor, Fischer, & Zeiter, ; Yang et al, ). High abundance of grass species, with a capacity to pre‐empt nitrogen and space by rapid re‐sprouting from basal meristems may also contribute to fast biomass recovery in grassland systems (Stampfli et al, ; Volaire et al, ). However, drivers of grassland drought recovery remain unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant functional groups mediate drought resistance and recovery in a multisite grassland experiment

et al. 2018

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Climate change predictions suggest that summer droughts will become more intense and recurrent in Europe. While drought‐induced reductions in grassland primary productivity are well documented, the drivers behind drought resistance (the capacity to withstand change) and recovery (the capacity for recovery of function) of above‐ and below‐ground biomass remain poorly understood. Across eight grasslands differing in plant community productivity (CP), we investigated the effects of summer drought on plant and soil microbial variables, plant nutrient content, and soil nitrogen (N) availability. We examined the linkages between CP, soil N, drought responses of plant and microbial communities, and relative drought responses of plant and microbial biomass. Plant and microbial variables were recorded at the end of a 3‐month rainfall exclusion period. Plant variables were also assessed during a 10‐month drought recovery period. Experimental drought decreased plant biomass and increased plant C:N ratios, but had no effect on total microbial biomass across sites. Instead, drought caused shifts in plant and microbial community structures as well as an increase in arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi biomass. Overall, plant biomass drought resistance was unrelated to CP or microbial community structure but was positively related to drought resistance of forbs. In the month after rewetting, soil N availability increased in droughted plots across sites. Two months post‐rewetting, droughted plots had higher plant N concentration, but lower plant N use efficiency. The short‐term drought recovery of plant biomass was unrelated to CP or soil N availability, but positively related to the response of grass biomass, reflecting incomplete recovery at high CP. Ten months after rewetting, drought effects on plant biomass and plant N content were no longer apparent. Synthesis. Our results suggest that drought resistance and recovery are more sensitive to plant community composition than to community productivity. Short‐term recovery of plant biomass may also benefit from increased soil N availability after drought and from a high abundance of soil fungi in low productivity sites. Our findings underline the importance of plant functional groups for the stability of permanent grasslands in a changing climate with more frequent drought.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant functional groups mediate drought resistance and recovery in a multisite grassland experiment

et al. 2018

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Investigating the consequences of climate change under different land‐use regimes: a novel experimental infrastructure

et al. 2019

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Climate change and land‐use change are considered as the most important threats to ecosystems. Both factors can be expected to have interacting influences on ecosystem functions directly and indirectly via changes in biodiversity. Knowledge about these interactions is limited due to a lack of experiments which investigate climate change effects under different land‐use scenarios. Among the processes involved in ecosystem responses to global change, in particular, those occurring in soils or related to biotic interactions and microevolution were underinvestigated in previous experiments. Examinations of these relationships require spatial and temporal scales which go beyond those realized in the majority of ecological field experiments. We introduce a new research facility, the Global Change Experimental Facility (GCEF), which was designed to investigate the consequences of a future climate scenario for ecosystem functioning in different land‐use types on large field plots (400 m2). Climate manipulation is based on projections for the period of 2070–2100 with an increased temperature and a changed precipitation pattern consisting of reduced precipitation in summer and increased precipitation in spring and autumn. We subject five different land‐use types (two farming systems, three grasslands), differing in land‐use intensity, to ambient and future climatic conditions. The use of automated roofs and side panels to passively increase night temperatures results in an average increase in daily mean temperature by 0.55°C accompanied by a stronger increase in minimum temperatures (up to 1.14°C in average) with longer frost‐free periods and an increase in growing degree days by 5.2%. The combined use of mobile roofs and irrigation systems allows the reduction (in summer by ~20%) and increase in rainfall (in spring and autumn by ~10%) according to future scenarios superimposed on the ambient variation in precipitation. The large plot size and the technical configuration allow the establishment of realistic land‐use scenarios and long‐term observations of responses of ecosystem functions and community dynamics on relevant temporal and spatial scales. Thus, the GCEF provides a well‐suited platform for the interdisciplinary research on the consequences of climate change under different land‐use scenarios.

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Increased rainfall variability and nitrogen deposition accelerate succession along a common sere

et al. 2021

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Ongoing climate change is increasing rainfall variability in many parts of the world; in particular, the heaviest rainfall events are becoming heavier. In terrestrial ecosystems, nitrogen deposition is increasing as a result of emissions from fossil fuel burning and volatilization of nitrogen-based fertilizers. These changes in the timing and rate of resource inputs can impact plant communities by altering competitive dynamics, succession, and community composition. In many systems, these are occurring alongside successional dynamics, making it difficult to tease apart mechanisms. Here, we resampled a nitrogen by rainfall variability manipulation experiment in a restored tallgrass prairie to examine the relative role of background community dynamics and treatment effects on plant diversity. During the treatment period, nitrogen addition and increased rainfall variability reduced diversity. Here, four and five years after the treatments were halted, we found similarly low levels of diversity across all treatments-an effect driven by dominance of a tall, fast-growing, clonal forb, Solidago canadensis. The convergence of plots toward a low diversity state suggests that all experimental communities were gradually becoming dominated by S. canadensis, including in the absence of rainfall or nitrogen treatments. In contrast to short-term findings from the same experiment, we conclude that our treatments accelerated succession toward a tall, clonal forb-dominated community along an existing sere, but did not fundamentally alter longer-term community composition-a result that was only apparent several years after the conclusion of the experiment. These findings reinforce the need to interpret the results from short-term experimental manipulations within the context of long-term successional change.

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High land‐use intensity exacerbates shifts in grassland vegetation composition after severe experimental drought

Cited by 147 publications

References 78 publications

Plant functional groups mediate drought resistance and recovery in a multisite grassland experiment

Plant functional groups mediate drought resistance and recovery in a multisite grassland experiment

Investigating the consequences of climate change under different land‐use regimes: a novel experimental infrastructure

Increased rainfall variability and nitrogen deposition accelerate succession along a common sere

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