Vegation Changes During a 30‐Year Period in Grassland Communities Near Hays, Kansas

Albertson, F. W.; Tomanek, G. W.

doi:10.2307/1935011

Cited by 56 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Albertson & Tomanek (1965) have shown the marked fluctuations which can occur in a thirtyyear period in different mixed prairie communities in Kansas (Fig. la).…”

Section: Temporal Heterogeneitymentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The available studies which have collected any appreciable information about vegetation dynamics by use of permanent quadrats are often concerned with pasture management (Jones, 1932;Albertson & Tomanek, 1965), or forestry, though there are an increasing number involving vegetation management for conservation (van der Maarel, 1971).…”

Section: Vegetation Management and Permanent Quadratsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Permanent quadrats: An interface for theory and practice

Austin

1981

Vegetatio

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Certain neglected concepts for studying vegetation dynamics are reviewed, particularly the incorporating of temporal and spatial heterogeneity; examples are given. Few studies have been of sufficient length to allow partition of the various types of temporal fluctuation influencing vegetation composition. Studies of changes in spatial pattern with time are similarly few. The formation of patches of vegetation and their change with time (nucleation) may determine the entire spatio-temporal structure of the ecosystem, e.g. vegetation groves in arid zones. Simultaneous study of temporal and spatial heterogeneity is required. Future studies will necessitate higher standards of evidence than previously accepted. The practice of equating a few spatially separated sites having different periods of time since a specific disturbance should not be accepted in the absence of evidence that their potential vegetation dynamics has been similar during those periods.Permanent quadrats with an appropriate experimental design are needed to overcome these problems. The requirements to be met by such a design are discussed, incliading the role of location, contiguity, perturbation or synthetic experimentation and demographic measurement.

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“…Albertson & Tomanek (1965) have shown the marked fluctuations which can occur in a thirtyyear period in different mixed prairie communities in Kansas (Fig. la).…”

Section: Temporal Heterogeneitymentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Vegetation Management and Permanent Quadratsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permanent quadrats: An interface for theory and practice

Austin

1981

Vegetatio

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“…A remarkable dataset from grasslands in western Kansas gave us the opportunity to test all theoretical conditions of the storage effect and quantify its strength. For more than 30 years, starting in the 1930s, all individual plants in permanent quadrats were mapped each year (19). This spatially explicit time-series permits analyses of demographic performance and competitive interactions across three decades of climate variation, including two severe droughts, precisely the information required to quantify the storage effect.…”

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confidence: 99%

Climate variability has a stabilizing effect on the coexistence of prairie grasses

Adler

HilleRisLambers²,

Kyriakidis

et al. 2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

306

310

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How expected increases in climate variability will affect species diversity depends on the role of such variability in regulating the coexistence of competing species. Despite theory linking temporal environmental fluctuations with the maintenance of diversity, the importance of climate variability for stabilizing coexistence remains unknown because of a lack of appropriate long-term observations. Here, we analyze three decades of demographic data from a Kansas prairie to demonstrate that interannual climate variability promotes the coexistence of three common grass species. Specifically, we show that (i) the dynamics of the three species satisfy all requirements of ''storage effect'' theory based on recruitment variability with overlapping generations, (ii) climate variables are correlated with interannual variation in species performance, and (iii) temporal variability increases low-density growth rates, buffering these species against competitive exclusion. Given that environmental fluctuations are ubiquitous in natural systems, our results suggest that coexistence based on the storage effect may be underappreciated and could provide an important alternative to recent neutral theories of diversity. Field evidence for positive effects of variability on coexistence also emphasizes the need to consider changes in both climate means and variances when forecasting the effects of global change on species diversity.climate change ͉ competition ͉ grassland ͉ plant community ͉ population dynamics S trong climate variability characterizes ecosystems worldwide, and in many regions this variability is predicted to increase over the next century because of higher frequencies of severe storms and droughts (1, 2). The ecological impacts of increased climate variability are poorly understood (3), especially in comparison with threats posed by increasing mean temperatures (4,5). This gap in empirical research contrasts sharply with a considerable body of theory examining the effects of environmental fluctuations on the maintenance of species diversity (6-9).''Storage effect'' theory derives the conditions under which climate variability will have stabilizing or destabilizing effects on species coexistence (10). The temporal storage effect described in refs. 6 and 9 requires that three conditions be met. To satisfy condition 1, species must have long lifespans to buffer their populations against unfavorable years. For condition 2, species must differ in their response to climate variation. These speciesspecific responses to climate cause each species to experience relatively more intraspecific competition during its favorable years and more interspecific competition during its unfavorable years. Condition 3 requires that the effect of competition on each species must be more severe in years favorable for that species than in unfavorable years. When condition 2 is present, intraspecific competition will be more severe than interspecific competition. As a result, climate variability gives species an advantage when they become ra...

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“…Empirical evidence of the response of plant functional groups to climatic conditions characteristic of drought is therefore important for evaluating predictions of future change. However, such evidence is mostly limited to historical records (15,16), which lack the full range of past drought variability (3), and to short-term experimental manipulations (17,18), which lack a sufficient temporal dimension for understanding future vegetational response.…”

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confidence: 99%

Response of C ₃ and C ₄ plants to middle-Holocene climatic variation near the prairie–forest ecotone of Minnesota

Nelson

Tian

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Paleorecords of the middle Holocene (MH) from the North American mid-continent can offer insights into ecological responses to pervasive drought that may accompany future climatic warming. We analyzed MH sediments from West Olaf Lake (WOL) and Steel Lake (SL) in Minnesota to examine the effects of warm͞dry climatic conditions on prairie-woodland ecosystems. Mineral composition and carbonate ␦ 18 O were used to determine climatic variations, whereas pollen assemblages, charcoal ␦ 13 C, and charcoal accumulation rates were used to reconstruct vegetation composition, C3 and C4 plant abundance, and fire. The ratio of aragonite͞calcite at WOL and ␦ 18 O at SL suggest that pronounced droughts occurred during the MH but that drought severity decreased with time. From charcoal ␦ 13 C data we estimated that the MH abundance of C4 plants averaged 50% at WOL and 43% at SL. At WOL C4 abundance was negatively correlated with aragonite͞calcite, suggesting that severe moisture deficits suppressed C4 plants in favor of weedy C3 plants (e.g., Ambrosia). As climate ameliorated C4 abundance increased (from Ϸ33 to 66%) at the expense of weedy species, enhancing fuel availability and fire occurrence. In contrast, farther east at SL where climate was cooler and wetter, C 4 abundance showed no correlation with ␦ 18 O-inferred aridity. Woody C 3 plants (e.g., Quercus) were more abundant, biomass flammability was lower, and fires were less important at SL than at WOL. Our results suggest that C 4 plants are adapted to warm͞dry climatic conditions, but not to extreme droughts, and that the fire regime is controlled by biomass-climate interactions. P ervasive drought, expected to be associated with climatic change in continental interiors, will have profound ecological, economic, and societal repercussions (1-4). Drought conditions are likely to alter ecosystem function by changing the relative abundance of plant functional groups (e.g., C 3 vs. C 4 ) in natural systems (5-7). For example, episodic droughts that occurred throughout the 20th century in the midwestern United States killed woody C 3 genera, such as Quercus (8-10), and favored better adapted C 3 and C 4 herbaceous species (9). General circulation models coupled with dynamic crop-growth models project that, in agricultural systems, such climatic conditions could significantly reduce both C 3 (e.g., wheat, Triticum aestivum L.) and C 4 (e.g., corn, Zea mays L.) cereal crop yields (11,12), resulting in billions of dollars of economic loss (13,14). Empirical evidence of the response of plant functional groups to climatic conditions characteristic of drought is therefore important for evaluating predictions of future change. However, such evidence is mostly limited to historical records (15, 16), which lack the full range of past drought variability (3), and to short-term experimental manipulations (17, 18), which lack a sufficient temporal dimension for understanding future vegetational response.During the middle Holocene (MH), Ϸ8.0-4.0 thousand years (ka) B.P. (19), the midweste...

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Vegation Changes During a 30‐Year Period in Grassland Communities Near Hays, Kansas

Cited by 56 publications

References 12 publications

Permanent quadrats: An interface for theory and practice

Permanent quadrats: An interface for theory and practice

Climate variability has a stabilizing effect on the coexistence of prairie grasses

Response of C ₃ and C ₄ plants to middle-Holocene climatic variation near the prairie–forest ecotone of Minnesota

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Vegation Changes During a 30‐Year Period in Grassland Communities Near Hays, Kansas

Cited by 56 publications

References 12 publications

Permanent quadrats: An interface for theory and practice

Permanent quadrats: An interface for theory and practice

Climate variability has a stabilizing effect on the coexistence of prairie grasses

Response of C 3 and C 4 plants to middle-Holocene climatic variation near the prairie–forest ecotone of Minnesota

Contact Info

Product

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Response of C ₃ and C ₄ plants to middle-Holocene climatic variation near the prairie–forest ecotone of Minnesota