Winter wheat has a central role in ensuring the food security and welfare of 1.3 billion people in China. Extensive previous studies have concluded that winter wheat yields would decrease with higher temperatures, owing to warming-induced soil drying or shortening of phenophase. Temperature in China is predicted to increase by 1–5°C by 2100, which may greatly impact plant production and cause other negative effects. We performed a manipulative field experiment, creating diverse growth regimes for wheat by infrared radiation (IR) warming day and night, including IR warming only (DW), IR warming + delayed sowing dates (DS), IR warming + increased irrigation (IW), and a control (CK). The results show that IR warming increased daily average wheat canopy and soil temperatures by 2.0°C and 2.3°C, respectively. DW was associated with an advanced maturity of 10 days and yield reduction of 8.2%. IR-warming effects on the photosynthetic apparatus of wheat varied with season as well as significant differences were found in the booting stage. DS represented a worsened situation, lowering yield per plant by 16.4%, with a significant decline in aboveground biomass and functional leaf area. Wheat under DS showed double-peak patterns of diurnal gas exchange during booting stages and, consequently, lower photosynthetic capacity with high transpiration for cooling. Significantly lower actual water use efficiency and intrinsic water use efficiency from jointing to anthesis stages were also found under DS. However, IW had no significant difference from CK, irrespective of yield and photosynthesis. Therefore, we concluded that delayed sowing date may not be a good choice for winter wheat, whereas a thoroughly-watered wheat agroecosystem should be promoted in the context of global warming.
The role of livestock grazing in regulating woody cover and biomass in grass-dominant systems is well recognized. However, the way in which woody plant populations in respond when livestock are removed from grazing in the absence of other disturbances, such as fire, remains unclear.We conducted a 10-year, replicated fencing experiment in a sandy semiarid rangeland in northern China (which has a mean annual rainfall of 365 mm), where fires have been actively suppressed for decades.Fencing dramatically influenced the growth and age structure of the native tree species, Ulmus pumila, which is the sole dominant tree in the area. After a decade, the density of the U. pumila tree population in the fencing plots increased doubly and canopy cover increased triply. The proportion of both saplings (U2) and young trees (U3) increased in fencing plots but decreased in grazing plots after the 10-year treatment period. The effects of fencing on U. pumila trees varied by age class, with potential implications for the future structure of the U. pumila tree community. Decadal fencing led to approximately 80-fold increase in recruitment and a nearly 2.5-fold decrease in the mortality of both U2 and U3. Further, livestock grazing generated a “browsing trap” to the recruitment of both U2 and U3, and had a small impact on the mortality of old trees. A long-term, fencing-driven shift in woody species composition was mediated via its effects on both recruitment and mortality rates.Synthesis and applications. Our results demonstrate that in the long-term absence of both fire and livestock, native woody plant encroachment tends to occur in sandy rangelands, transforming the woody plant demography in the process. The feasibility of full livestock exclusion in sandy rangelands requires further discussion. A balanced amount of livestock grazing may provide critical ecosystem services by regulating woody cover and mediating woody plant encroachment.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.