Resistance and resilience of a semi-arid grassland to multi-year extreme drought

Xu, Chi; Ke, Yuguang; Zhou, Wei; Luo, Wentao; Ma, Wang; Song, Lin; Smith, Melinda D.; Hoover, David L.; Wilcox, Kevin R.; Fu, Wei; Zhang, Weiguo; Yu, Qiang

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108139

Cited by 35 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Furthermore, resilience to a subsequent drought is probably decreased by drought frequency, that is the number of consecutive drought events. Several studies in fact support the notion that a higher drought frequency decreases both resistance (Bose et al, 2020; Xu et al, 2021) and recovery (Gao et al, 2018; Peltier & Ogle, 2019; Szejner et al, 2020; Jiao et al, 2021; Serra‐Maluquer et al, 2021). However, the opposite, that is a higher drought frequency leading to a higher resilience, has also been shown (Yao et al, 2022; see also the above section on adaptations shaping the resilience to a subsequent drought event).…”

Section: Effects Of Drought Legacies On Responses To Subsequent Droug...mentioning

confidence: 87%

“…drought in a grassland experiment (Figure 3a), species composition still remained affected after one (Hoover et al, 2014) and 2 years (DeBoeck et al, 2018;Xu et al, 2021; Figure 3b). Following severe drought events, community properties often do not return to predisturbance levels (Figure 3; Hillebrand & Kunze, 2020).…”

Section: Droug Ht Leg Ac Y Dur Ati On Smentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Moreover, the drought legacy effects on community properties tend to last longer than those related to C cycle parameters (Figure 3). For example, while biomass recovered after drought in a grassland experiment (Figure 3a), species composition still remained affected after one (Hoover et al, 2014) and 2 years (DeBoeck et al, 2018; Xu et al, 2021; Figure 3b). Following severe drought events, community properties often do not return to pre‐disturbance levels (Figure 3; Hillebrand & Kunze, 2020).…”

Section: Drought Legacy Durationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Long‐term adaptations on the community scale have been documented for all plant functional types. Such adaptations frequently involve increased dominance of drought adapted species (Hoover et al, 2014; DeBoeck et al, 2018; Xu et al, 2021; Wilcox et al, 2021) and lead to corresponding shifts in the community‐level plant traits (Trugman et al, 2020; Evans et al, 2022). They have also been shown to involve increases in functional diversity (Griffin‐Nolan et al, 2019).…”

Section: Effects Of Drought Legacies On Responses To Subsequent Droug...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drought legacies and ecosystem responses to subsequent drought

Müller

Bahn

2022

Global Change Biology

121

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Section: Effects Of Drought Legacies On Responses To Subsequent Droug...mentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Droug Ht Leg Ac Y Dur Ati On Smentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Drought Legacy Durationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Effects Of Drought Legacies On Responses To Subsequent Droug...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drought legacies and ecosystem responses to subsequent drought

Müller

Bahn

2022

Global Change Biology

121

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“…Grassland responses to drought are well‐documented, and their sensitivity can vary depending on local climate and/or species composition with more arid (lower ANPP) sites being more sensitive (Knapp et al, 2015; Luo et al, 2021). Additionally, the magnitude of drought impacts on grassland functioning generally increases as drought progresses (Xu et al, 2021). Understanding how grasslands will respond to ongoing intensification of droughts is a fundamental component of predicting the effects of climate change on the functioning and services of these expansive ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought has inconsistent effects on seed trait composition despite their strong association with ecosystem drought sensitivity

et al. 2022

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1. Seeds provide the basis of genetic diversity in perennial grassland communities and their traits may influence ecosystem resistance to extreme drought. However, we know little about how drought effects the community functional composition of seed traits and the corresponding implications for ecosystem resistance to drought.2. We experimentally removed 66% of growing season precipitation for 4 years across five arid and semi-arid grasslands in northern China and assessed how this multi-year drought impacted community-weighted means (CWMs) of seed traits, seed trait functional diversity and above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP).3. Experimental drought had limited effects on CWM traits and the few effects that did occur varied by site and year. For three separate sites, and in different years, drought reduced seed length and phosphorus content but increased both seed and seed-coat thickness. Additionally, drought led to increased seed functional evenness, divergence, dispersion and richness, but only in some sites, and mostly in later years following cumulative effects of water limitation. However, we observed a strong negative relationship between drought-induced reductions in ANPP and CWMs of seed-coat thickness, indicating that a high abundance of dominant species with thick seeds may increase ecosystem resistance to drought. Seed trait functional diversity was not significantly predictive of ANPP, providing little evidence for a diversity effect.

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Projected increases in extreme drought frequency and duration by 2040 affect specialist habitats and species in Scotland

Kirkpatrick Baird,

Spray,

Hall

et al. 2023

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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Climate‐driven increases in drought occurrence are an overlooked risk in temperate climates, which may be less resilient to water scarcity than arid habitats. Scotland provides an example of a temperate oceanic climate in which drought risk is understudied, but could have substantial ecological impacts, particularly in combination with additional stressors. We modelled changes to risk of extreme drought occurrence in Scotland, and considered potential impacts of these changes on two key habitats, ombrotrophic (precipitation fed) wetlands and temperate rainforest. Using temperature and precipitation data from the UK Climate Projections 2018 and the drought index Standardized Precipitation‐Evapotranspiration Index, we calculated and mapped likely changes in extreme drought for the near future (2021–2040) in comparison to a baseline (1981–2001). We found likelihood of extreme drought events increased from an average of one event every 20 years in the baseline period, to one event every 3 years by 2040. Typical events were projected to be up to 2–3 months longer, with an average of 11 extra drought months per decade. Increases were projected throughout the country, but the effect was most severe in the east, and during autumn. Ombrotrophic wetlands have some level of adaptive resilience to drought, but are considered at high risk as several key sites are in drought hotspot areas. In contrast, Scotland's temperate rainforest is located in lower risk areas, but is typically less drought resilient. Potential impacts on these habitats include reductions in ecosystem services including carbon capture, reduced breeding success for multiple taxa and increased competition among plant communities, which threatens drought‐sensitive species. These projections suggest that climate‐driven drought risk is a significant and imminent threat, even in wet climates. In Scotland, the results can direct mitigation and management actions to areas likely to be at greatest risk, as well as informing conservation interventions that can cope with drought. Additionally, other areas with a temperate oceanic climate may be at risk of extreme drought and could experience similar consequences. Therefore, these results have implications both for facilitating improved resilience to extreme drought in Scotland and for potentially overlooked impacts of drought in oceanic climates elsewhere.

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Resistance and resilience of a semi-arid grassland to multi-year extreme drought

Cited by 35 publications

References 38 publications

Drought legacies and ecosystem responses to subsequent drought

Drought legacies and ecosystem responses to subsequent drought

Drought has inconsistent effects on seed trait composition despite their strong association with ecosystem drought sensitivity

Projected increases in extreme drought frequency and duration by 2040 affect specialist habitats and species in Scotland

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