Global change impacts on arid zone ecosystems: Seedling establishment processes are threatened by temperature and water stress

Lewandrowski, Wolfgang; Stevens, Jason C.; Webber, Bruce L.; Dalziell, Emma L.; Trudgen, Melinda S.; Bateman, Amber; Erickson, Todd E.

doi:10.1002/ece3.7638

Cited by 20 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 76 publications

(112 reference statements)

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“…This again most likely reflects that, in the sown community, diversity and evenness were not only affected by differences in survival and growth but also by differences in germination. This is in line with previous findings that global change may have particularly strong effects on plant performance during the germination phase 39 , 48 , suggesting that plant communities might be especially susceptible to global change due to effects on seed germination 41 , 49 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Number of simultaneously acting global change factors affects composition, diversity and productivity of grassland plant communities

2022

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Plant communities experience impacts of increasing numbers of global change factors (e.g., warming, eutrophication, pollution). Consequently, unpredictable global change effects could arise. However, information about multi-factor effects on plant communities is scarce. To test plant-community responses to multiple global change factors (GCFs), we subjected sown and transplanted-seedling communities to increasing numbers (0, 1, 2, 4, 6) of co-acting GCFs, and assessed effects of individual factors and increasing numbers of GCFs on community composition and productivity. GCF number reduced species diversity and evenness of both community types, whereas none of the individual factors alone affected these measures. In contrast, GCF number positively affected the productivity of the transplanted-seedling community. Our findings show that simultaneously acting GCFs can affect plant communities in ways differing from those expected from single factor effects, which may be due to biological effects, sampling effects, or both. Consequently, exploring the multifactorial nature of global change is crucial to better understand ecological impacts of global change.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Number of simultaneously acting global change factors affects composition, diversity and productivity of grassland plant communities

2022

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“…The floral appendages (termed florets) encasing Triodia seeds significantly influence seed dormancy and tolerance to water stress, controlling seed germination against unpredictable periods (Lewandrowski et al 2017 a ). Removing the florets imposed higher ecophysiological stress and mortality rates of >90% on emerging and establishing seedlings at temperatures >30°C (Lewandrowski et al 2021). Under restoration scenarios, highly exposed surfaces can often be much hotter than those in natural ecosystems (Tuff et al 2016), increasing recruitment challenges.…”

Section: Applications Of Conservation Physiology In Ecological Restor...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, such advances may be further optimized with physiological insights (James et al 2013;Lewandrowski et al 2017b). With appropriate consideration, foundation species' performance can be modeled to understand how appropriate material preparation can increase the likelihood of overcoming bottlenecks in recruitment success (Lewandrowski et al 2017b(Lewandrowski et al , 2021. Although correlative distributional studies of keystone species are becoming more common in planning conservation (Dalmaris et al 2015), we are unaware of any examples where such biophysical approaches have been applied to model the response of keystone species at landscape scales to guide ecological restoration.…”

Section: Strategic Applications Of Conservation Physiology In Ecologi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging the value of conservation physiology for ecological restoration

Tomlinson

Tudor

Turner

et al. 2022

Restoration Ecology

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The incorporation of conservation physiology into environmental management, particularly ecological restoration, is underutilized, despite the capacity of such approaches to discern how populations respond to the challenges of unpredictable and potentially inhospitable environments. We explore several examples where detailed mechanistic understanding of the physiological constraints of keystone and foundational species, ecological service providers such as insect pollinators, and species of conservation concern has been used to optimize the return of these species to landscapes following the cessation of mineral extraction. Using such data can optimize the rapid return of functioning ecosystems during restoration or increase the conservation value of restoration by returning insurance populations of threatened species. Integrating this level of mechanistic understanding with fine-resolution spatial data in the form of biophysical modeling can help plan recovery and identify targets that can subsequently be used in assessing restoration success, particularly in situations that require substantial investment over long periods, such as post-mining restoration. There is growing recognition of the valuable insights offered by conservation physiology to broader practice and policy development, and there have been substantial technical developments in conservation physiology leading up to and into the twenty-first century as a result. The global challenge facing restoration ecology has, however, also grown in that time. Rapidly and efficiently meeting ambitious global restoration objectives will require a targeted approach, and we suggest that the application of physiological data will be most strategic for rare species, keystone species, and ecosystem service providers more broadly.

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“…Water stress is one of the most important abiotic factors affecting plant growth and seed yield in arid regions [16][17][18]. To cope with this stress, plants respond with ecological, physiological, and biochemical changes that affect plant growth and reproduction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transgenerational Effects of Maternal Water Condition on the Growth, C:N Stoichiometry and Seed Characteristics of the Desert Annual Atriplex aucheri

Jiang

Wen

Zhang

et al. 2021

Plants

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Water conditions directly affect plant growth and thus modify reproduction allocation. However, little is known about the transgenerational effects of water conditions on xerophytes. The desert annual Atriplex aucheri produces three types of seeds (A: dormant, ebracteate black seeds; B: dormant, bracteolate black seeds; C: non-dormant, bracteolate brown seeds) on a single plant. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of low/high water treatment (thereafter progeny water treatment) on aboveground biomass, C:N stoichiometry, and offspring seed characteristics of A. aucheri grown from brown seeds whose mother plants were under low/high water treatment (thereafter maternal water treatment). Progeny water only affected shoot dry weight and seed allocation of type A. Under low progeny water treatment, plants from parents with low maternal water treatment had the lowest biomass. Maternal water did not significantly influence the C and N content, however high maternal water increased the C:N ratio. Maternal water treatment did not significantly affect seed number. However, plants under low maternal and progeny water treatments had the lowest weight for type B seeds. When progeny plants were under low water treatment, seed allocation of type A, type B, and total seed allocation of plants under high maternal water were significantly lower than those of plants under low maternal water. These results indicate that water conditions during the maternal generation can dramatically contribute to progeny seed variation, but the transgenerational effects depend on the water conditions of progeny plants.

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Global change impacts on arid zone ecosystems: Seedling establishment processes are threatened by temperature and water stress

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 20 publications

References 76 publications

Number of simultaneously acting global change factors affects composition, diversity and productivity of grassland plant communities

Number of simultaneously acting global change factors affects composition, diversity and productivity of grassland plant communities

Leveraging the value of conservation physiology for ecological restoration

Transgenerational Effects of Maternal Water Condition on the Growth, C:N Stoichiometry and Seed Characteristics of the Desert Annual Atriplex aucheri

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