Long‐term plant responses to climate are moderated by biophysical attributes in a North American desert

Munson, Seth M.; Webb, Robert H.; Housman, David C.; Veblen, Kari E.; Nussear, Kenneth E.; Beever, Erik A.; Hartney, Kristine B.; Miriti, Maria N.; Phillips, Susan L.; Fulton, Robert E.; Tallent, Nita G.

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12381

Cited by 36 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…; Munson et al . ). As described above, soil microbes can alleviate plant drought stress and increase drought tolerance by a variety of mechanisms (Augé ; Lehto & Zwiazek ), but their abundance and species composition can also change with drought.…”

Section: Melding the Oa Model With The Psf Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 97%

The role of locally adapted mycorrhizas and rhizobacteria in plant–soil feedback systems

2016

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Summary1. The plant-soil feedback (PSF) framework has become an important theory in plant ecology, yet many ecological and evolutionary factors that influence PSFs have yet to be fully considered. Here, we discuss the importance of local adaptation among plants and root-associated fungi and bacteria. Furthermore, we show how inclusion of the optimal resource allocation (OA) model can help predict the direction and outcome of PSFs under environmental change. 2. Plants and associated soil microbes have co-evolved for millennia, generating adaptations to each other and to their local environment. This local co-adaptation is likely generated by a suite of multidirectional exchanges of goods and services among plants, fungi and bacteria, and the constant changes in above-ground-below-ground interactions. 3. Resource limitation may be a driver of local adaptation among organisms involved in nutritional symbioses. The OA model states that when an essential resource is limited, natural selection will favour taxa that forage optimally by adjusting their biomass and energy allocation such that productivity is equally limited by all resources. Co-adaptation will therefore respond to the local limiting resource conditions through taxa-specific resource transfer interactions. 4. The OA model can help predict the outcomes of PSFs across a range of resource gradients and environmental changes such as increasing drought or atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Positive feedback is predicted in systems where resource exchange among plants and associated soil microbes can ameliorate resource limitation, or in systems where microbes provide another important service such as pathogen defence. Feedback strength is expected to diminish as resources become less limiting. Negative feedback is predicted when resources are in luxury supply and populations of opportunistic plant pathogens increase relative to commensal or mutualist microbes. 5. Future, field-based studies that integrate naturally co-occurring systems of plants, microbes and their local soil are needed to further test the hypothesis that resource availability is an effective predictor of the direction and magnitude of PSFs. A more mechanistic understanding of PSFs will help land managers and farmers to manipulate plant-microbial soil interactions to respond to environmental change and to effectively harness beneficial symbioses for plant nutrition and pathogen control.

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Section: Melding the Oa Model With The Psf Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 97%

The role of locally adapted mycorrhizas and rhizobacteria in plant–soil feedback systems

2016

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“…For example, areas with shallow slopes and sandy soils may experience increased water availability through run‐on and drainage, respectively, which can improve the condition of dryland vegetation (Munson et al. ). The influence of topo‐edaphic properties can result in differential access of water to perennial grass and shrub species based on their rooting distributions (Walter ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decadal shifts in grass and woody plant cover are driven by prolonged drying and modified by topo‐edaphic properties

Munson

Sankey

Xian

et al. 2016

Ecological Applications

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Woody plant encroachment and overall declines in perennial vegetation in dryland regions can alter ecosystem properties and indicate land degradation, but the causes of these shifts remain controversial. Determining how changes in the abundance and distribution of grass and woody plants are influenced by conditions that regulate water availability at a regional scale provides a baseline to compare how management actions alter the composition of these vegetation types at a more local scale and can be used to predict future shifts under climate change. Using a remote-sensing-based approach, we assessed the balance between grasses and woody plants and how climate and topo-edaphic conditions affected their abundances across the northern Sonoran Desert from 1989 to 2009. Despite widespread woody plant encroachment in this region over the last 150 years, we found that leguminous trees, including mesquite (Prosopis spp.), declined in cover in areas with prolonged drying conditions during the early 21st century. Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) also had moderate decreases with prolonged drying but was buffered from changes on soils with low clay that promote infiltration and high available water capacity that allows for retention of water at depth. Perennial grasses have expanded and contracted over the last two decades in response to summer precipitation and were especially dynamic on shallow soils with high clay that have large fluctuations in water availability. Our results suggest that topo-edaphic properties can amplify or ameliorate climate-induced changes in woody plants and perennial grasses. Understanding these relationships has important implications for ecosystem function under climate change in the southwestern USA and can inform management efforts to regulate grass and woody plant abundances.

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“…Noy-Meir (1973) postulated that deep-rooted perennials are favored in sandy soils where moisture is not stored in the upper layers but percolates deeper. Munson et al (2015) documented this advantage for evergreen shrubs in sandy soils, over the last fifty years, in the Mojave Desert of the southwest. The ability to resprout through adventitious buds has been documented for most of the dominant and subdominant shrubs we documented (Table 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Vegetation of semi-stable rangeland dunes of the Navajo Nation, Southwestern USA

Thomas

Redsteer

2016

Arid Land Research and Management

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Dune destabilization and increased mobility is a worldwide issue causing ecological, economic, and health problems for the inhabitants of areas with extensive dune fields. Dunes cover nearly a third of the Navajo Nation within the Colorado Plateau of southwestern USA. There, higher temperatures and prolonged drought beginning in 1996 have produced significant increases in dune mobility. Vegetation plays an important role in dune stabilization, but there are few studies of the plants of the aeolian surfaces of this region. We examined plant species and their attributes within a moderately vegetated dune field of the Navajo Nation to understand the types and characteristics of plants that stabilize rangeland dunes. These dunes supported a low cover of mixed grass-scrubland with fifty-two perennial and annual species including extensive occurrence of non-native annual Salsola spp. Perennial grass richness and shrub cover were positively associated with increased soil sand composition. Taprooted shrubs were more common on sandier substrates. Most dominant grasses had C4 photosynthesis, suggestive of higher water-use efficiencies and growth advantage in warm arid environments. Plant cover was commonly below the threshold of dune stabilization. Increasing sand movement with continued aridity will select for plants adapted to burial, deflation, and abrasion. The study indicates plants tolerant of increased sand mobility and burial but more investigation is needed to identify the plants adapted to establish and regenerate under these conditions. In addition, the role of Salsola spp. in promoting decline of perennial grasses and shrubs needs clarification. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Long‐term plant responses to climate are moderated by biophysical attributes in a North American desert

Cited by 36 publications

References 54 publications

The role of locally adapted mycorrhizas and rhizobacteria in plant–soil feedback systems

The role of locally adapted mycorrhizas and rhizobacteria in plant–soil feedback systems

Decadal shifts in grass and woody plant cover are driven by prolonged drying and modified by topo‐edaphic properties

Vegetation of semi-stable rangeland dunes of the Navajo Nation, Southwestern USA

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