Semiarid ecosystem sensitivity to precipitation extremes: weak evidence for vegetation constraints

Felton, Andrew J.; Zavislan‐Pullaro, Sam; Smith, Melinda D.

doi:10.1002/ecy.2572

Cited by 55 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…More evidence has been found for this integrated model in arid and semi‐arid ecosystems with more positive asymmetry (Haverd, Ahlström, Smith, & Canadell, ; Unger & Jongen, ). However, in our current experiment in the desert steppe, although extreme precipitation levels were included, a linear model was fitted better than nonlinear models for the ANPP and precipitation relationship, which could be attributed to the plant compositional shift and ecosystem resistance/resilience conferred by historical environmental conditions with relative low precipitation (Felton et al, ; Hoover, Knapp, & Smith, ; Knapp et al, ). In a global dryland synthesis, Gherardi and Sala () reported that ANPP responded positively to increased precipitation variability at arid sites with mean annual precipitation below 300 mm, whereas ANPP responded negatively at drylands with mean annual precipitation over 300 mm.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Nitrogen deposition magnifies the sensitivity of desert steppe plant communities to large changes in precipitation

et al. 2019

Journal of Ecology

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Precipitation alteration and nitrogen (N) deposition caused by anthropogenic activities could profoundly affect the structure and functioning of plant communities in arid ecosystems. However, the plant community impacts conferred by large temporal changes in precipitation, especially with a concurrent increase in N deposition, remain unclear. To address this uncertainty, from 2016 to 2017, an in situ field experiment was conducted to examine the effects of five precipitation levels, two N levels and their interaction on the plant community function and composition in a desert steppe in northern China. Above‐ground net primary production (ANPP) and plant community‐weighted mean (CWM) height significantly increased with increasing precipitation, and both were well fitted with a positive linear model, but with a higher slope under N addition. The ANPP increase was primarily driven by the increase in Artemisia capillaris, a companion forb sensitive to precipitation variation. The plant community composition shifted with precipitation enhancement—from a community dominated by Stipa tianschanica, a perennial grass, to a community dominated by Artemisia capillaris. Synthesis. The findings imply that the ecosystem sensitivity to future changes in precipitation variability will be mediated by two potential mechanisms: concurrent N deposition and plant community‐level change. It is suggested that we should consider the vegetation compositional shift and multiple resource colimitation in assessing the sensitivity of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Nitrogen deposition magnifies the sensitivity of desert steppe plant communities to large changes in precipitation

et al. 2019

Journal of Ecology

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“…, Felton et al. ). However, most of these studies focused on aboveground NPP (ANPP), with much less attention given to the hidden belowground portion of NPP, that is, BNPP (Wu et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, Felton et al. ). Therefore, using experiments that involve multilevel changing precipitation treatments would more clearly elucidate allocation changes in NPP and the underlying mechanisms, which is critically important for understanding ecosystem functional responses to changing precipitation regimes (McCarthy and Enquist , Bardgett and Wardle ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Future precipitation is projected to increase, with more extreme fluctuations, especially in mid-latitude inland terrestrial ecosystems (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2013, Westra et al 2014), where water is one of the major limiting factors influencing ecosystem productivity (Bai et al 2008, Ahlstrom et al 2015. A plethora of precipitation manipulation experiments, conducted in these regions, found that altered precipitation could cause significant changes in ecosystem net primary productivity (NPP; Wu et al 2011, Xu et al 2013, Wilcox et al 2015, Ren et al 2017, Zhang et al 2017a, Felton et al 2019). However, most of these studies focused on aboveground NPP (ANPP), with much less attention given to the hidden belowground portion of NPP, that is, BNPP (Wu et al 2011, Luo et al 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the importance of plant belowground components to overall ecosystem functioning (Bardgett and Wardle 2010), this oversight questions the validity of our current mechanistic understanding of how ecosystems adjust ecosystem biomass allocation patterns under changing precipitation and further consequences on belowground processes, such as plant fitness, plant-soil feedbacks and soil carbon dynamics (Hui and Jackson 2006, McCarthy and Enquist 2007, van Wijk 2011, Zhou et al 2018. Moreover, several studies have suggested that ecosystem productivity responds nonlinearly and asymmetrically to the increased precipitation and decreased precipitation treatments (Wu et al 2011, Luo et al 2017, Zhang et al 2017a, Felton et al 2019. Therefore, using experiments that involve multilevel changing precipitation treatments would more clearly elucidate allocation changes in NPP and the underlying mechanisms, which is critically important for understanding ecosystem functional responses to changing precipitation regimes (McCarthy andEnquist 2007, Bardgett andWardle 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plants alter their vertical root distribution rather than biomass allocation in response to changing precipitation

Zhang

Cadotte

Chen

et al. 2019

Ecology

100

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Elucidating the variation of allocation pattern of ecosystem net primary productivity (NPP) and its underlying mechanisms is critically important for understanding the changes of aboveground and belowground ecosystem functions. Under optimal partitioning theory, plants should allocate more NPP to the organ that acquires the most limiting resource, and this expectation has been widely used to explain and predict NPP allocation under changing precipitation. However, confirmatory evidence for this theory has mostly come from observed spatial variation in the relationship between precipitation and NPP allocation across ecosystems, rather than directly from the influences of changing precipitation on NPP allocation within systems. We performed a 6‐yr five‐level precipitation manipulation experiment in a semiarid steppe to test whether changes in NPP allocation can be explained by the optimal partitioning theory, and how water requirement of plant community is maintained if NPP allocation is unaltered. The 30 precipitation levels (5 levels × 6 yr) were divided into dry, nominal, and wet precipitation ranges, relative to historical precipitation variation over the past six decades. We found that NPP in both aboveground (ANPP) and belowground (BNPP) increased nonlinearly as precipitation increased, while the allocation of NPP to BNPP (fBNPP) showed a concave quadratic relationship with precipitation. The declined fBNPP as precipitation increased in the dry range supported the optimal partitioning theory. However, in the nominal range, NPP allocation was not influenced by the changed precipitation; instead, BNPP was distributed more in the surface soil horizon (0–10 cm) as precipitation increased, and conversely more in the deeper soil layers (10–30 cm) as precipitation decreased. This response in root foraging appears to be a strategy to satisfy plant water requirements and partially explains the stable NPP allocation patterns. Overall, our results suggest that plants can adjust their vertical BNPP distribution in response to drought stress, and that only under extreme drought does the optimal partitioning theory strictly apply, highlighting the context dependency of the adaption and growth of plants under changing precipitation.

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Plant functional diversity influences water and carbon fluxes and their use efficiencies in native and disturbed dryland ecosystems

et al. 2022

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Vegetation is changing rapidly in dryland ecosystems, but critical gaps remain in understanding the long-term fluxes of carbon (C) and water. We used 6 years of data from two adjacent eddy covariance sites in the Sonoran Desert, a species-rich woody C 3 native shrubland and a species-poor C 4 shrubland converted to buffelgrass savanna. Although emphasis has been given to the physical determinants of productivity in dryland ecosystems, we assessed how PFTs changes influenced (1) water and C fluxes and (2) water-use (WUEe) and intrinsic C-use efficiencies (CUEei) in the two sites under the same climatological conditions. We hypothesized that changes in PFTs would alter accessibility, rate and use efficiencies of water and carbon, with poorly known effects on the long-term fluxes and efficiencies. Annual net ecosystem productivity (NEP) in the shrubland was a C-source in drier years and a sink in others. However, longer C uptake, greater WUEe and lower CUEei were the crucial drivers for higher and positive NEP (C sink) in the savanna. Annual and seasonal WUEe and CUEei discrepancies indicated the importance of dominant PFTs after disturbance and ecohydrological feedbacks. As the world becomes drier and vegetation disturbance more common, the role of PFT changes should contribute to gaining a clearer understanding of their role in the C and water fluxes of dryland ecosystems.

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Semiarid ecosystem sensitivity to precipitation extremes: weak evidence for vegetation constraints

Cited by 55 publications

References 45 publications

Nitrogen deposition magnifies the sensitivity of desert steppe plant communities to large changes in precipitation

Nitrogen deposition magnifies the sensitivity of desert steppe plant communities to large changes in precipitation

Plants alter their vertical root distribution rather than biomass allocation in response to changing precipitation

Plant functional diversity influences water and carbon fluxes and their use efficiencies in native and disturbed dryland ecosystems

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