Functional Group, Biomass, and Climate Change Effects on Ecological Drought in Semiarid Grasslands

Wilson, Scott D.; Schlaepfer, Daniel R.; Bradford, John B.; Lauenroth, William K.; Duniway, Michael C.; Hall, Sonia A.; Jamiyansharav, Khishigbayar; Jia, Gensuo; Lkhagva, Ariuntsetseg; Munson, Seth M.; Pyke, David A.; Tietjen, Britta

doi:10.1002/2017jg004173

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 91 publications

(143 reference statements)

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“…Sustainable management of dryland ecosystems faces many challenges such as overgrazing, urban development, wildfire, invasive species introduction, and other anthropogenic disturbances (Schwinning et al 2008). Land managers seeking to recover plant and ecosystem properties following these disturbances must also overcome drought, extreme temperature fluctuations, and limited resources when undertaking restoration projects (e.g., Bainbridge 2012, Kildisheva et al 2016, Wilson et al 2018). Guidelines for restoration‐relevant research and land management actions have emerged internationally to ensure the right seed is sown in the right place at the right time to improve restoration outcomes (Hawke 1989, Oldfield and Olwell 2015, Mcdonald et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The right trait in the right place at the right time: Matching traits to environment improves restoration outcomes

Balazs

Kramer

Munson

et al. 2020

Ecological Applications

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The challenges of restoration in dryland ecosystems are growing due to a rise in anthropogenic disturbance and increasing aridity. Plant functional traits are often used to predict plant performance and can offer a window into potential outcomes of restoration efforts across environmental gradients. We analyzed a database including 15 yr of seeding outcomes across 150 sites on the Colorado Plateau, a cold desert ecoregion in the western United States, and analyzed the independent and interactive effects of functional traits (seed mass, height, and specific leaf area) and local biologically relevant climate variables on seeding success. We predicted that the best models would include an interaction between plant traits and climate, indicating a need to match the right trait value to the right climate conditions to maximize seeding success. Indeed, we found that both plant height and seed size significantly interacted with temperature seasonality, with larger seeds and taller plants performing better in more seasonal environments. We also determined that these trait-environment patterns are not influenced by whether a species is native or nonnative. Our results inform the selection of seed mixes for restoring areas with specific climatic conditions, while also demonstrating the strong influence of temperature seasonality on seeding success in the Colorado Plateau region.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The right trait in the right place at the right time: Matching traits to environment improves restoration outcomes

Balazs

Kramer

Munson

et al. 2020

Ecological Applications

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“…FGs are differentiated by their characteristics and corresponding relationships with various environmental factors as previously described. Wilson, et al [31] concluded that phenology, biomass allocation, plant height, interception, and rooting depth caused different FGs to have differing impacts on evaporation, soil water availability, and drought conditions. The same concept is true for FGs and corresponding CS rates and Reich, et al [14] confirms that differences in leaf area ratio, photosynthetic rate, and other characteristics between C3 grasses, C4 grasses, forbs, and legumes which resulted in differences in CS rate for these different FGs.…”

Section: Considerations For Functional Groups In Carbon Sequestrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Plant Functional Groups as a Strategy for Modeling Carbon Dynamics in Grassland Ecosystems

Deirdre¹,

Bailey²,

Yi-Wen³

2019

Adv Environ Stud

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This paper argues for the use of plant functional groups as an important strategy for modeling carbon dynamics in grasslands. Carbon sequestration is paramount to help reduce climate change globally, and grasslands, representing 40% of all terrestrial area, can serve as primary locations of sequestration if optimal management strategies can be realized. Currently, the majority of research occurs in the field, which can take years to find what an optimal carbon sequestration strategy looks like, but modeling ecosystems offers an opportunity of realize long term management strategies for a particular locations. Current ecosystem modeling strategies tend to focus on agricultural applications or are model grassland for large regions, like Europe, or globally. Models tend to use just a few species, or only C3/C4 groups, as opposed to using C3 and C4 grasses as separate groups as well as forbs and legumes in their model. This paper lays out a justification for using the four groups in modeling in order to optimize simulation models while accounting for the importance of diversity in modeling strategies.

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“…The severity of the recent synoptic California drought and its effects on vegetation were most notably documented through upland forest canopy water stress and mortality (Asner et al, 2016;Fettig et al, 2019;Goulden & Bales, 2019), as well as through declining groundwater levels that heavily impacted agricultural production throughout the Central Valley (Thomas et al, 2017;Xiao et al, 2017). Similarly, the intensified moisture loss and accelerated ET also impacted lowland vegetation in Southern California, including differential species responses within chaparral and grassland ecosystems (Breshears et al, 2005;Gremer et al, 2015;Okin et al, 2018;Wilson et al, 2018). While the landscape in Southern California is dominated by vast stretches of brown grasslands during the dry season, the 2012-2019 drought in Santa Barbara Country was so intense and prolonged compared to the rest of the state (Figure 2), that it propagated into multiple years of soil moisture deficits, early die-off of grasses (Figures 4-6), and an overall drier landscape primed for fire.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Onset and propagation of drought into soil moisture and vegetation responses during the 2012–2019 drought in Southern California

Warter¹,

Singer²,

Cuthbert³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Despite clear signals of regional impacts of the recent severe drought in California within Central Valley groundwater storage and Sierra Nevada forests, our understanding of how this drought affected soil moisture and vegetation responses in lowland grasslands is limited. In order to better understand the resulting vulnerability of these landscapes to fire and ecosystem degradation, we aimed to generalize drought-induced changes in subsurface soil moisture and to explore its effects within grassland ecosystems of Southern California. We used a decadal in situ dataset of high-resolution climate and soil moisture from two grassland sites (coastal and inland), alongside greenness (NDVI) data from Landsat to explore drought dynamics in environments with similar precipitation but contrasting evaporative demand. Analysis of data from 2008 to 2019 showed that the negative impacts of prolonged net precipitation (netP) deficits on vegetation at the inlands site were buffered by fog and moderate temperatures at the coastal site. During the drought, the region experienced an early onset of the dry season, resulting in premature senescence of grasses by mid-April. We developed a parsimonious soil moisture balance model that captures dynamic vegetation–evapotranspiration feedbacks using netP–NDVI relationships as a leading indicator. We then analyzed the links between climate, soil moisture, and vegetation greenness over decadal timescales, exploring the impacts of plausible climate change scenarios that reflect changes to precipitation amounts, their seasonal distribution, and evaporative demand. We found that all scenarios generate early, extreme soil moisture deficits during drought below a vegetation stress threshold, further intensifying early dry season onset and vegetation die-off. These changes suggest potential increases in the risk of wildfires in this and similar regions under climate change, as well as increased grassland ecosystem vulnerability.

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Functional Group, Biomass, and Climate Change Effects on Ecological Drought in Semiarid Grasslands

Cited by 20 publications

References 91 publications

The right trait in the right place at the right time: Matching traits to environment improves restoration outcomes

The right trait in the right place at the right time: Matching traits to environment improves restoration outcomes

Using Plant Functional Groups as a Strategy for Modeling Carbon Dynamics in Grassland Ecosystems

Onset and propagation of drought into soil moisture and vegetation responses during the 2012–2019 drought in Southern California

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