Soil biogeochemical responses of a tropical forest to warming and hurricane disturbance

Reed, Sasha C.; Reibold, Robin; Cavaleri, Molly A.; Alonso‐Rodríguez, Aura M.; Berberich, Megan E.; Wood, Tana E.

doi:10.1016/bs.aecr.2020.01.007

Cited by 28 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 81 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This approach required all leaf-level measurements to be pooled at the plot level, thus dramatically reducing our statistical power compared to the regression-style analyses, which included plant-level data. We found no differences in temperature, soil moisture, or available nutrients between treatments that could easily explain pre-warming physiological variation between heated and control plots (Kimball et al, 2018;Reed et al, 2020). In January 2016, prior to initiation of the warming treatment, there were no differences in foliar nitrogen per unit leaf area for either P. brachiata (Student's t test, p = 0.122) nor P. glabrescens (p = 0.520).…”

Section: Assessing Physiological Responses By Treatment Versus Actualmentioning

confidence: 71%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Photosynthetic and Respiratory Acclimation of Understory Shrubs in Response to in situ Experimental Warming of a Wet Tropical Forest

Carter

Wood²,

Reed

et al. 2020

Front. For. Glob. Change

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite the importance of tropical forests to global carbon balance, our understanding of how tropical plant physiology will respond to climate warming is limited. In addition, the contribution of tropical forest understories to global carbon cycling is predicted to increase with rising temperatures, however, in situ warming studies of tropical forest plants to date focus only on upper canopies. We present results of an in situ field-scale +4 • C understory infrared warming experiment in Puerto Rico (Tropical Responses to Altered Climate Experiment; TRACE). We investigated gas exchange responses of two common understory shrubs, Psychotria brachiata and Piper glabrescens, after exposure to 4 and 8 months warming. We assessed physiological acclimation in two ways: (1) by comparing plot-level physiological responses in heated versus control treatments before and after warming, and (2) by examining physiological responses of individual plants to variation in environmental drivers across all plots, seasons, and treatments. P. brachiata has the capacity to up-regulate (i.e., acclimate) photosynthesis through broadened thermal niche and up-regulation of photosynthetic temperature optimum (T opt) with warmer temperatures. P. glabrescens, however, did not upregulate any photosynthetic parameter, but rather experienced declines in the rate of photosynthesis at the optimum temperature (A opt), corresponding with lower stomatal conductance under warmer daily temperatures. Contrary to expectation, neither species showed strong evidence for respiratory acclimation. P. brachiata down-regulated basal respiration with warmer daily temperatures during the drier winter months only. P. glabrescens showed no evidence of respiratory acclimation. Unexpectedly, soil moisture, was the strongest environmental driver of daily physiological temperature responses, not vegetation temperature. T opt increased, while photosynthesis and basal respiration declined as soils dried, suggesting that drier conditions negatively affected carbon uptake for both species. Overall, P. brachiata, an early successional shrub, showed higher acclimation potential to daily temperature variations, potentially mitigating negative effects of

show abstract

Section: Assessing Physiological Responses By Treatment Versus Actualmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…See Kimball et al (2018) for more detail of experimental design and infrastructure. Plots experienced less than 20% canopy openness (Reed et al, 2020). In August 2017, canopy cover was similar between treatments, where leaf area index was 6.60 ± 0.27 (mean ± sd) in control and 6.34 ± 0.22 in heated plots.…”

Section: Study Site and Meteorological Variablesmentioning

confidence: 93%

Photosynthetic and Respiratory Acclimation of Understory Shrubs in Response to in situ Experimental Warming of a Wet Tropical Forest

Carter

Wood²,

Reed

et al. 2020

Front. For. Glob. Change

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, although we expected that the decrease in root phosphatase activity could have been triggered by an increase in soil available P, we in fact measured a decrease in soil available P in our sites (Table 1). Reed et al (2020) also reported an initial decrease in soil available P (first 3 months after Hurricane María), but soon after, they measured a sharp increase. Differences in methods assessing soil available P can account for important differences in P-values (Neyroud and Lischer, 2003), which represents a challenge and limitation in tropical forest ecology.…”

Section: Stability Of Root Trait Expression Before Vs After the Hurricanesmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Differences in methods assessing soil available P can account for important differences in P-values (Neyroud and Lischer, 2003), which represents a challenge and limitation in tropical forest ecology. Nevertheless, other potential factors influencing changes in root phosphatase activity could have been related to changes in soil moisture (SB2 was flooded for several months), a decrease of plant demand for P because of extensive defoliation, or changes in competition from understory vegetation abundance (Kennard et al, 2020;Reed et al, 2020). We cannot separate these different possible influences but note that the responsiveness of root phosphatase to environmental change may be an important consideration in evaluating phosphorus nutrition of tropical forests.…”

Section: Stability Of Root Trait Expression Before Vs After the Hurricanesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade-Offs in Phosphorus Acquisition Strategies of Five Common Tree Species in a Tropical Forest of Puerto Rico

Yaffar¹,

Defrenne²,

Kivlin³

et al. 2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tree species that are successful in tropical lowlands have different acquisition strategies to overcome soil phosphorus (P) limitations. Some of these strategies belowground include adjustments in fine-root traits, such as morphology, architecture, association with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and phosphatase activity. Trade-offs among P-acquisition strategies are expected because of their respective carbon cost. However, empirical evidence remains scarce which hinders our understanding of soil P-acquisition processes in tropical forests. Here, we measured seven fine-root functional traits related to P acquisition of five common tree species in three sites of the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico. We then described species-specific P-acquisition strategies and explored the changes in fine-root trait expression from 6 months before to 6 months after two consecutive hurricanes, Irma and María, passed over the island. We found that variations in root trait expression were driven mainly by the large interspecific differences across the three selected sites. In addition, we revealed a trade-off between highly colonized fine roots with high phosphatase activity and fine roots that have a high degree of branching. Furthermore, the former strategy was adopted by pioneer species (Spathodea campanulata and Cecropia schreberiana), whereas the latter was adopted by non-pioneer species (mostly Dacryodes excelsa and Prestoea montana). Additionally, we found that root trait expression did not change comparing 6 months before and after the hurricanes, with the exception of root phosphatase activity. Altogether, our results suggest a combination of structural and physiological root traits for soil P acquisition in P-poor tropical soils by common tropical tree species, and show stability on most of the root trait expression after hurricane disturbances.

show abstract

“…The first tropical forest warming experiment, TRACE uses infrared (IR) heaters under free‐air, open‐field conditions, to warm understory vegetation to 4°C ± 0.1°C and surface soils to 3.3 ± 0.3°C above that of ambient control plots (Kimball et al., 2018). After one year of warming, the study area was strongly affected by the passing of Hurricanes Irma and María, resulting in almost complete defoliation of the forest canopy, broken branches, and downed trees (Reed et al., 2020). This open canopy significantly alters understory microclimate, creating a high light environment with more variable temperature and humidity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tropical understory herbaceous community responds more strongly to hurricane disturbance than to experimental warming

Kennard

Matlaga

Sharpe³

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The effects of climate change on tropical forests may have global consequences due to the forests’ high biodiversity and major role in the global carbon cycle. In this study, we document the effects of experimental warming on the abundance and composition of a tropical forest floor herbaceous plant community in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. This study was conducted within Tropical Responses to Altered Climate Experiment (TRACE) plots, which use infrared heaters under free‐air, open‐field conditions, to warm understory vegetation and soils + 4°C above nearby control plots. Hurricanes Irma and María damaged the heating infrastructure in the second year of warming, therefore, the study included one pretreatment year, one year of warming, and one year of hurricane response with no warming. We measured percent leaf cover of individual herbaceous species, fern population dynamics, and species richness and diversity within three warmed and three control plots. Results showed that one year of experimental warming did not significantly affect the cover of individual herbaceous species, fern population dynamics, species richness, or species diversity. In contrast, herbaceous cover increased from 20% to 70%, bare ground decreased from 70% to 6%, and species composition shifted pre to posthurricane. The negligible effects of warming may have been due to the short duration of the warming treatment or an understory that is somewhat resistant to higher temperatures. Our results suggest that climate extremes that are predicted to increase with climate change, such as hurricanes and droughts, may cause more abrupt changes in tropical forest understories than longer‐term sustained warming.

show abstract

Soil biogeochemical responses of a tropical forest to warming and hurricane disturbance

Cited by 28 publications

References 81 publications

Photosynthetic and Respiratory Acclimation of Understory Shrubs in Response to in situ Experimental Warming of a Wet Tropical Forest

Photosynthetic and Respiratory Acclimation of Understory Shrubs in Response to in situ Experimental Warming of a Wet Tropical Forest

Trade-Offs in Phosphorus Acquisition Strategies of Five Common Tree Species in a Tropical Forest of Puerto Rico

Tropical understory herbaceous community responds more strongly to hurricane disturbance than to experimental warming

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About