Changes in flowering functional group affect responses of community phenological sequences to temperature change

Meng, Fanyu; Jiang, Lili; Zhang, Z. H.; Cui, Shujuan; Duan, Jianan; Wang, S. P.; Luo, Caiyun; Wang, Q.; Zhou, Yuke; Li, X. E.; Zhang, L. R.; Li, B. W.; Dorji, Tsechoe; Li, Y. N.; Du, Mingyuan

doi:10.1002/ecy.1685

Cited by 34 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Previous work suggests that shifts in functional group composition influence phenological response to temperature change in Tibetan alpine grasslands (Meng et al ). Our findings reinforce this idea, but reveal that shifts in functional group composition had limited effects on long‐term changes in plant growth patterns in this alpine grassland.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alpine grassland plants grow earlier and faster but biomass remains unchanged over 35 years of climate change

et al. 2020

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Satellite data indicate significant advancement in alpine spring phenology over decades of climate warming, but corresponding field evidence is scarce. It is also unknown whether this advancement results from an earlier shift of phenological events, or enhancement of plant growth under unchanged phenological pattern. By analyzing a 35‐year dataset of seasonal biomass dynamics of a Tibetan alpine grassland, we show that climate change promoted both earlier phenology and faster growth, without changing annual biomass production. Biomass production increased in spring due to a warming‐induced earlier onset of plant growth, but decreased in autumn due mainly to increased water stress. Plants grew faster but the fast‐growing period shortened during the mid‐growing season. These findings provide the first in situ evidence of long‐term changes in growth patterns in alpine grassland plant communities, and suggest that earlier phenology and faster growth will jointly contribute to plant growth in a warming climate.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alpine grassland plants grow earlier and faster but biomass remains unchanged over 35 years of climate change

et al. 2020

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“…A reciprocal transplant experiment was conducted at Haibei Alpine Meadow Ecosystem Research Station from 2008 to 2010 (HBAMERS; 37.62°N, 101.20°E, details in (Meng et al 2017). At each elevation (i.e., 3,200, 3,400, and 3,800 m), we dug up 12 intact soil blocks with their vegetation intact in early May 2007.…”

Section: Data Setmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opposite effects of winter day and night temperature changes on early phenophases

Meng

Zhang

et al. 2019

Ecology

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Changes in day (maximum temperature, TMAX) and night temperature (minimum temperature, TMIN) in the preseason (e.g., winter and spring) may have opposite effects on early phenophases (e.g., leafing and flowering) due to changing requirements of chilling accumulations (CAC) and heating accumulations (HAC), which could cause advance, delay or no change in early phenophases. However, their relative effects on phenology are largely unexplored, especially on the Tibetan Plateau. Here, observations were performed using a warming and cooling experiment in situ through reciprocal transplantation (2008–2010) on the Tibetan Plateau. We found that winter minimum temperature (TMIN) warming significantly delayed mean early phenophases by 8.60 d/°C, but winter maximum temperature (TMAX) warming advanced them by 12.06 d/°C across six common species. Thus, winter mean temperature warming resulted in a net advance of 3.46 d/°C in early phenophases. In contrast, winter TMIN cooling, on average, significantly advanced early phenophases by 5.12 d/°C, but winter TMAX cooling delayed them by 7.40 d/°C across six common species, resulting in a net delay of 2.28 d/°C for winter mean temperature cooling. The opposing effects of TMAX and TMIN warming on the early phenophases may be mainly caused by decreased CAC due to TMIN warming (5.29 times greater than TMAX) and increased HAC due to TMAX warming (3.25 times greater than TMIN), and similar processes apply to TMAX and TMIN cooling. Therefore, our study provides another insight into why some plant phenophases remain unchanged or delayed under climate change.

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“…Warming prolonged the growing season through prolonged flowering duration, but cooling shortened the growing season through shortening of both leaf colouring and flowering duration (Li et al., ). Therefore, asymmetric responses to warming and cooling were found for both species richness and phenology (Meng et al., ), suggesting this could be a common element of plant ecological responses to climate change in alpine meadows.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Richness of plant communities plays a larger role than climate in determining responses of species richness to climate change

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2019

Journal of Ecology

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Experimental warming in situ suggests that warming could lead to a loss of biodiversity. However, species that remain in situ and experience climate change will interact with species tracking climate change, which could also affect patterns of biodiversity. The relative contribution of species gains and losses to net changes in species richness is still unclear. We use transplanted plant communities to test the hypothesis that both the change in climate and ecological communities tracking climate change will influence how species richness responds to climate change. Three intact alpine plant communities were reciprocally transplanted to create scenarios in which species experienced warmer and wetter conditions (transferred to lower elevations) and cooler and drier conditions (transferred to higher elevations) over 10 years on the Tibetan Plateau. Communities transplanted into the same elevation as controls represent species tracking climate change. Transferring to lower elevations generally caused a net increase in richness and a higher rate of gains relative to the control plots; the magnitude of this effect depended on the specific elevation. Transferring to higher elevations lead to either net increases or decreases in richness and gains, depending on elevation. Species gains predicted much more variation in changes in species richness (50%) than did species loss (9%). Species richness at the receptor site and the donor site were both important predictors of variation in species richness, and the abiotic environment did not explain additional variation. Changes in cover of dominant plant species in response to transfers did not predict changes in species richness, species gain or species loss. Our results suggest that species gains from species tracking climate change at the receptor sites, rather than species loss from the donor sites, predicted changes in species richness. Synthesis. Warming experiments with physical barriers to dispersal may overestimate the negative effect of warming on plant diversity by not accounting for species gains. Our study highlights the importance of biotic factors in addition to the abiotic environment, when considering how climate change will affect plant diversity.

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Changes in flowering functional group affect responses of community phenological sequences to temperature change

Cited by 34 publications

References 44 publications

Alpine grassland plants grow earlier and faster but biomass remains unchanged over 35 years of climate change

Alpine grassland plants grow earlier and faster but biomass remains unchanged over 35 years of climate change

Opposite effects of winter day and night temperature changes on early phenophases

Richness of plant communities plays a larger role than climate in determining responses of species richness to climate change

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