Plant functional trait diversity regulates the nonlinear response of productivity to regional climate change in Tibetan alpine grasslands

Wu, Jian; Wurst, Susanne; Zhang, Xianzhou

doi:10.1038/srep35649

Cited by 41 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…Tzvel); the aboveground biomass was positively associated with species diversity and negatively correlated with functional diversity. These findings are all in agreement with previous studies (McNaughton, ; Wu, Wurst, & Zhang, ; Zhu, Jiang, & Zhang, ) where grazing was reported to play a secondary role in plant primary production (Biondini et al., ). However, one study found that drought effects were similar to or less than grazing, and it was not the main driver of grassland productivity (Koerner & Collins, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Grazing effect on grasslands escalated by abnormal precipitations in Inner Mongolia

Liang

Chen

Gornish

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Grazing effects on arid and semi‐arid grasslands can be constrained by aridity. Plant functional groups (PFGs) are the most basic component of community structure (CS) and biodiversity & ecosystem function (BEF). They have been suggested as identity‐dependent in quantifying the response to grazing intensity and drought severity. Here, we examine how the relationships among PFGs, CS, BEF, and grazing intensity are driven by climatic drought. We conducted a manipulative experiment with three grazing intensities in 2012 (nondrought year) and 2013 (drought year). We classified 62 herbaceous plants into four functional groups based on their life forms. We used the relative species abundance of PFGs to quantify the effects of grazing and drought, and to explore the mechanisms for the pathway correlations using structural equation models (SEM) among PFGs, CS, and BEF directly or indirectly. Grazers consistently favored the perennial forbs (e.g., palatable or nutritious plants), decreasing the plants’ relative abundance by 23%–38%. Drought decreased the relative abundance of ephemeral plants by 42 ± 13%; and increased perennial forbs by 20 ± 7% and graminoids by 80 ± 31%. SEM confirmed that annuals and biennials had negative correlations with the other three PFGs, with perennial bunchgrasses facilitated by perennial rhizome grass. Moreover, the contributions of grazing to community structure (i.e., canopy height) were 1.6–6.1 times those from drought, whereas drought effect on community species richness was 3.6 times of the grazing treatment. Lastly, the interactive effects of grazing and drought on BEF were greater than either alone; particularly, drought escalated grazing damage on primary production. Synthesis. The responses of PFGs, CS, and BEF to grazing and drought were identity‐dependent, suggesting that grazing and drought regulation of plant functional groups might be a way to shape ecosystem structure and function in grasslands.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Grazing effect on grasslands escalated by abnormal precipitations in Inner Mongolia

Liang

Chen

Gornish

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…NPP pc was found to be positively correlated with GSP for 59.7% of grassland pixels (Figure 5b). Therefore, our study further confirmed that precipitation is the primary driving force in the edges of the northern Tibetan Plateau, consistent with both remote sensing research [9] and field surveys [11,13,37] in this region. Although NPP ac was found to have no correlation with either GSP or GST, the mosaic pattern of correlation coefficient differs among different counties (Figure 5c,d) and implies that stocking rate and pasture management likely affect the actual productivity of alpine grasslands in this region.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…For example, Chen et al [8] reported that the area percentage of grassland productivity changes mainly resulting from human activities doubled from 20.16% between 1982 and 2001 to 42.98% between 2002 and 2011. We found the gaps between potential and actual productivity differed regionally, which may reflect differences in alpine grassland types that are dominated by different plant species [37,40]. Similarly, Liang et al [41] found that alpine grassland biomass in the pastoral area of southern Qinghai Province, a region in the central-eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, shows considerable spatial heterogeneity because of the geographical, topographical, climatic and biophysical limitations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A multi-site survey with fenced versus grazed paired plots across the northern Tibetan Plateau also found that the differences in aboveground productivity were not only controlled by climate variables but also influenced by grazing management and closely related to plant community properties [13,36,37]. Therefore, the proportion of grassland productivity consumed by livestock should be included in remote-sensing based models for simulating grassland productivity, to represent the actual grassland productivity that has really been influenced by both climate change and human activities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying the Relative Contributions of Climate and Grazing to Both Direction and Magnitude of Alpine Grassland Productivity Dynamics from 1993 to 2011 on the Northern Tibetan Plateau

Feng

Zhang

et al. 2017

Remote Sensing

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Alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau are claimed to be sensitive and vulnerable to climate change and human disturbance. The mechanism, direction and magnitude of climatic and anthropogenic influences on net primary productivity (NPP) of various alpine pastures remain under debate. Here, we simulated the potential productivity (with only climate variables being considered as drivers; NPP P ) and actual productivity (based on remote sensing dataset including both climate and anthropogenic drivers; NPP A ) from 1993 to 2011. We denoted the difference between NPP P and NPP A as NPP pc to quantify how much forage can be potentially consumed by livestock. The actually consumed productivity (NPP ac ) by livestock were estimated based on meat production and daily forage consumption per standardized sheep unit. We hypothesized that the gap between NPP pc and NPP ac (NPP gap ) indicates the direction of vegetation dynamics, restoration or degradation. Our results show that growing season precipitation rather than temperature significantly relates with NPP gap , although warming was significant for the entire study region while precipitation only significantly increased in the northeastern places. On the Northern Tibetan Plateau, 69.05% of available alpine pastures showed a restoration trend with positive NPP gap , and for 58.74% of alpine pastures, stocking rate is suggested to increase in the future because of the positive mean NPP gap and its increasing trend. This study provides a potential framework for regionally regulating grazing management with aims to restore the degraded pastures and sustainable management of the healthy pastures on the Tibetan Plateau.

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“…, Wu et al. ). Thus, inclusion of site‐specific phenology is extremely important in making accurate predictions regarding physiological patterns and ecosystem carbon dynamics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of understory phenology and productivity in the carbon dynamics of longleaf pine savannas

et al. 2019

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Savanna ecosystems contribute ~30% of global net primary production (NPP), but they vary substantially in composition and function, specifically in the understory, which can result in complex responses to environmental fluctuations. We tested how understory phenology and its contribution to ecosystem productivity within a longleaf pine ecosystem varied at two ends of a soil moisture gradient (mesic and xeric). We used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of the understory and ecosystem productivity estimates from eddy covariance systems to understand how variation in the understory affected overall ecosystem recovery from disturbances (drought and fire). We found that the mesic site recovered more rapidly from the disturbance of fire, compared to the xeric site, indicated by a faster increase in NDVI. During drought, understory NDVI at the xeric site decreased less compared to the mesic site, suggesting adaptation to lower soil moisture conditions. Our results also show large variation within savanna ecosystems in the contribution of the understory to ecosystem productivity and recovery, highlighting the critical need to further subcategorize global savanna ecosystems by their structural features, to accurately predict their contribution to global estimates of NPP.

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Plant functional trait diversity regulates the nonlinear response of productivity to regional climate change in Tibetan alpine grasslands

Cited by 41 publications

References 78 publications

Grazing effect on grasslands escalated by abnormal precipitations in Inner Mongolia

Grazing effect on grasslands escalated by abnormal precipitations in Inner Mongolia

Identifying the Relative Contributions of Climate and Grazing to Both Direction and Magnitude of Alpine Grassland Productivity Dynamics from 1993 to 2011 on the Northern Tibetan Plateau

The role of understory phenology and productivity in the carbon dynamics of longleaf pine savannas

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