Climate Effects on Prairie Productivity Partially Ameliorated by Soil Nutrients and Plant Community Responses

Reed, Paul B.; Assour, Hannah R.; Okotie-Oyekan, Aimee; Bailes, Graham; Johnson, Bart R.; Nelson, Aaron A.; Pfeifer‐Meister, Laurel; Roy, Brad A.; Bridgham, Scott D.

doi:10.1007/s10021-022-00811-3

Cited by 2 publications

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“…This network of experimental sites was established since 2010 and has been extensively studied since then (Reed et al 2019, 2021a, 2021b, 2021c, 2022, Peterson et al 2020) including work on mycorrhizal fungi (Vandegrift et al 2015, Wilson et al 2016). Treatment had marginal effects on the soil water potential, which should also affect nutrient uptake through mass flow.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous work demonstrated that the rainout shelters had minimal effects on aboveground community structure or function (Dawson et al, 2022), possibly due to the shoulder season effect of the Mediterranean rain seasonality. This network of experimental sites was established in 2010 and has been extensively studied since then (Brambila et al, 2023;DeMarche et al, 2021;Reed et al, 2019Reed et al, , 2023Reed, Peterson, et al, 2021;, including work on mycorrhizal fungi (Vandegrift et al, 2015; during the early growing season). Despite those differences, there were no significant changes in the plant community composition or productivity under rain exclusion, which also did not affect morphological and functional traits (i.e., specific leaf area, iWUE, and C:N ratios) of the functional groups we selected for this experiment (Dawson et al, 2022;.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant functional types and tissue stoichiometry explain nutrient transfer in common arbuscular mycorrhizal networks of temperate grasslands

Dawson

Shek

Reed

et al. 2022

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Plants and mycorrhizal fungi form close mutualistic relationships that affect the structure and function of ecosystems. Recent studies show how certain plant communities can form associations with the same mycorrhizal fungus leading to preferential transfer of carbon and limiting nutrients, such as nitrogen, between different species through common mycorrhizal networks. This phenomenon has been documented in a wide range of ecosystems but its mechanisms remain poorly understood. In an experimental prairie-pasture plant system, replicated at three sites across a 520 km latitudinal gradient in the Pacific Northwest, USA, we identified general processes that reconcile competing hypotheses related to resource transfer in common mycorrhizal networks. We used stable isotope tracers, paired with analyses of fungal DNA and plant and fungal community structure and traits, to quantify above- and belowground allocation and transfer of carbon and nitrogen between 18 different plant species. We applied isotopically enriched carbon (13C) and nitrogen (15N) as a pulse of carbon dioxide (CO2) and ammonia (NH3) to the leaves of target 'donor' species common across experimental sites. At each site, we performed >1360 measurements of foliar and root isotopic enrichment, which revealed morphological traits and tissue stoichiometry as the most important predictors of interspecific resource transfer. Assimilation of isotopic tracers was similar between labeled 'donor' plants with no significant difference between sites for labeled 'donor' plants with no significant difference in transfer between species among experimental treatments, including rainfall exclusion or species diversity. However, allocation of carbon and nitrogen to roots and transfer to 'receiver' species varied significantly between functional groups (annual/perennial or grass/forb) due to differences in tissue stoichiometry. Our findings points to a simple mechanistic answer for long-standing questions regarding mutualism and transfer of resources between plants via mycorrhizal networks, an explanation that can lead to general predictions of preferential flow of limiting resources in other ecosystems.

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