Belowground impacts of alpine woody encroachment are determined by plant traits, local climate, and soil conditions

Collins, Courtney G.; Spasojevic, Marko J.; Alados, Concepción L.; Aronson, Emma L.; Benavides, Juan C.; Cannone, Nicoletta; Caviezel, Chatrina; Grau, Oriol; Guo, Hui; Kudo, Gaku; Kuhn, Nikolas J.; Müllerová, Jana; Phillips, Michala L.; Pombubpa, Nuttapon; Reverchon, Frédérique; Shulman, Hannah; Stajich, Jason E.; Stokes, Alexia; Weber, Sören E.; Diez, Jeffrey M.

doi:10.1111/gcb.15340

Cited by 28 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 121 publications

(172 reference statements)

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“…However, this was not detected in the previous year 2018 (Figrue ), or at the landscape scale, so it should be treated with caution. Our findings generally contrast with the impacts of deciduous shrub expansion, such as increased soil C‐turnover (Parker et al, 2015), which highlights the importance of shrub species identity and root symbiont types in controlling belowground impacts (Collins et al, 2020). Soil properties in the shrub removal treatment were generally more similar to the grass treatment than the shrub treatment, which indicates that shrub treatment effects were directly related to shrub presence.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 78%

Shrub expansion modulates belowground impacts of changing snow conditions in alpine grasslands

et al. 2021

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Climate change is disproportionately impacting mountain ecosystems, leading to large reductions in winter snow cover, earlier spring snowmelt and widespread shrub expansion into alpine grasslands. Yet, the combined effects of shrub expansion and changing snow conditions on abiotic and biotic soil properties remains poorly understood. We used complementary field experiments to show that reduced snow cover and earlier snowmelt have effects on soil microbial communities and functioning that persist into summer. However, ericaceous shrub expansion modulates a number of these impacts and has stronger belowground effects than changing snow conditions. Ericaceous shrub expansion did not alter snow depth or snowmelt timing but did increase the abundance of ericoid mycorrhizal fungi and oligotrophic bacteria, which was linked to decreased soil respiration and nitrogen availability. Our findings suggest that changing winter snow conditions have cross‐seasonal impacts on soil properties, but shifts in vegetation can modulate belowground effects of future alpine climate change.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 78%

Shrub expansion modulates belowground impacts of changing snow conditions in alpine grasslands

et al. 2021

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“…Our results, at microbiota scale, showed that bacterial diversity was signi cantly higher under Juniperus and Euphorbia canopies than under Rosmarinus, while fungal diversity was signi cantly higher under Olea than under Myrtus. Collins et al, (2020) found that SE did not assign a "global signature" but was associated with increased, decreased, or no change in alpha microbial diversity when compared to soils from nearby herbaceous plant communities. Our data, instead, indicate that the microbiota signature among coexisting shrub species is highly speci c.…”

Section: Grassland Matrixmentioning

confidence: 85%

Specific microbiome signatures under the canopy of Mediterranean shrubs

Idbella

Filippis

Zotti

et al. 2022

Applied Soil Ecology

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Background: Shrub encroachment (SE) is a phenomenon in which grasses and herbaceous vegetation are replaced by woody shrubs. The progressive spread of shrubs represents a form of land cover change that is widespread in arid and semi-arid grassland ecosystems. Many previous studies have highlighted the effects of SE on soil respiration rates and nutrient storage, but little is known about its belowground effects. While previous work considered shrubs to be nonspecies speci c or as a single intervening species, we selected an Ampelodemsos mauritanicus grassland and six coexisting shrubs (i.e. Pistacia lentiscus L., Juniperus phoenicea L., Myrtus communis L., Rosmarinus o cinalis L., Olea europaea L., and Euphorbia dendroides L.) to investigate the effects of their encroachment on soil microbiota. We used high-throughput sequencing, coupled with soil chemical analyses and litter using 13C CPMAS NMR spectroscopy.Results: Results showed a strong in uence of shrub canopy on bacterial and fungal community diversity, species richness and overall community composition in the soil. Litter chemistry was dominated by O-alkyl-C, with the highest content in Ampelodesmsos and Euphorbia, but richer of aromatic C in Pistacia and Rosmarinus. Bacterial diversity was highest under Juniperus and Euphorbia, while lowest under Rosmarinus and grassland. Conversely, fungal diversity was highest under Olea and Euphorbia, while lowest under Myrtus and grassland. Moreover, soil C and N contents were highest under Olea, Pistacia and Myrtus compared to the other canopies. In addition, grassland and Rosmarinus had the highest Fe content. Furthermore, increased co-occurrence network size and connectivity were recorded under shrubs compared to the grassland matrix.Conclusions: Our results suggest that the individual effect of each shrub on the grassland matrix depends mainly on the chemical properties of the shrub litter, which alters the chemical pro le of the soil and, in cascade, shapes the associated microbiota.

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“… Nevo (2012) suggested that differences in the slope aspect may be suitable for assessing the mechanisms that allow plants to adapt to different environments under climate change. Considering both the aboveground and belowground effects will be critical for predicting future changes in forest ecosystem function ( Collins et al, 2020 ). Our results provide useful insights into how environmental factors might control the belowground and aboveground functional traits of plants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Slope Aspect and Rainfall on Belowground Deep Fine Root Traits and Aboveground Tree Height

Liu

Jie

et al. 2021

Front. Plant Sci.

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The vertical root distribution and rooting depth are the main belowground plant functional traits used to indicate drought resistance in arid and semiarid regions. The effects of the slope aspect on the aboveground traits are visible but not the belowground deep root traits. We aimed to investigate the fine root traits of the locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) planted on southerly and northerly aspects, and the variations in the rooting depth in regions with different rainfall, as well as assessing how deep rooting, might affect the response to drought in a loess region. We selected three study sites with different rainfall amounts, with six sampling plots at each site (three each with southerly and northerly aspects). Soil core samples were collected down to the depth where no roots were present. The locust trees tended to develop deeper fine roots rather than greater heights. The tree height and diameter were greater for locust trees on northerly aspects, whereas trees on southerly aspects had significantly deeper rooting depths. Fine root traits (root length, root area, and root dry weight density) were higher in the southerly aspect for both Changwu and Ansai, but lower in Suide. The ratio of the root front depth tree height ranged from 1.04 to 3.17, which was higher on southerly than northerly aspects, and it increased as the rainfall decreased. Locust tree growth traits (belowground fine root and aboveground tree height) were positively correlated with the mean annual rainfall. The soil moisture content of the topsoil decreased as the rainfall decreased, but the pattern varied in the deep layer. Our results suggest that the variations in the belowground rooting depth under different slope aspects may be related to plant survival strategies. The vertical extension of the rooting depth and tree height may be key functional traits that determine plant growth in drought-prone regions.

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Belowground impacts of alpine woody encroachment are determined by plant traits, local climate, and soil conditions

Cited by 28 publications

References 121 publications

Shrub expansion modulates belowground impacts of changing snow conditions in alpine grasslands

Shrub expansion modulates belowground impacts of changing snow conditions in alpine grasslands

Specific microbiome signatures under the canopy of Mediterranean shrubs

Effects of Slope Aspect and Rainfall on Belowground Deep Fine Root Traits and Aboveground Tree Height

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