The Response of Two Contrasting Limestone Grasslands to Simulated Climate Change

Grime, J. Philip; Brown, V. K.; Thompson, Ken; Masters, Gregory J.; Hillier, S. H.; Clarke, Ian P.; Askew, Andrew P.; Corker, D.; Kielty, J. P.

doi:10.1126/science.289.5480.762

Cited by 360 publications

(381 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The fact that annual communities regenerate each growing season from the seed bank with a fast growing rate when meteorological conditions are optimal, provides annual grasslands its characteristic state of non-maturity. In this sense, our results support the idea of Grime et al (2000) that mature ecosystems exhibit greater inertia to stress and disturbance than newly established communities. Other sown model perennial communities have also shown quick and strong responses to O3 suggesting that high growing rates is among Table 5 Mean values of the canopy gas exchange parameters expressed in terms of ground surface area (|imol C0 2 m~2 s _1 ) corresponding to the second harvest period for the different 0 3 treatments and phenological stages (mean ± se).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Current ozone levels threaten gross primary production and yield of Mediterranean annual pastures and nitrogen modulates the response

Calvete-Sogo

Elvira

Sanz

et al. 2014

Atmospheric Environment

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Pastures are among the most important ecosystems in Europe considering their biodiversity and distribution area. However, their response to increasing tropospheric ozone (O3) and nitrogen (N) deposition, two of the main drivers of global change, is still uncertain. A new Open-Top Chamber (OTC) experiment was performed in central Spain, aiming to study annual pasture response to O3 and N in close to natural growing conditions. A mixture of six species of three representative families was sowed in the field. Plants were exposed for 40 days to four O3 treatments: filtered air, non-filtered air (NFA) reproducing ambient levels and NFA supplemented with 20 and 40 nl I -1 O3. Three N treatments were considered to reach the N integrated doses of "background", +20 or +40 kg N ha -1 . Ozone significantly reduced green and total aboveground biomass (maximum reduction 25%) and increased the senescent biomass (maximum increase 40%). Accordingly, O3 decreased community Gross Primary Production due to both a global reduction of ecosystem CO2 exchange and an increase of ecosystem respiration. Nitrogen could partially counterbalance O3 effects on aboveground biomass when the levels of O3 were moderate, but at the same time O3 exposure reduced the fertilization effect of higher N availability. Therefore, O3 must be considered as a stress factor for annual pastures in the Mediterranean areas.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Current ozone levels threaten gross primary production and yield of Mediterranean annual pastures and nitrogen modulates the response

Calvete-Sogo

Elvira

Sanz

et al. 2014

Atmospheric Environment

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“…Introduction functioning and to predict ecosystem responses to environmental change (Walker et al 1999;Grime et al 2000;Lavorel and Garnier 2002;Westoby and Wright 2006). This contrasts sharply with our poor knowledge of the comparative ecology of nonvascular cryptogams, especially when it comes to their traits related to biogeochemistry (Cornelissen et al 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 66%

Amino acid uptake among wide-ranging moss species may contribute to their strong position in higher-latitude ecosystems

Krab¹,

Cornelissen²,

Lang³

et al. 2008

Plant Soil

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Plants that can take up amino acids directly from the soil solution may have a competitive advantage in ecosystems where inorganic nitrogen sources are scarce. We hypothesized that diverse mosses in cold, N-stressed ecosystems share this ability. We experimentally tested 11 sub-arctic Swedish moss species of wide-ranging taxa and growth form for their ability to take up double labelled ( 15 N and 13 C) glycine and aspartic acid in a laboratory setup as well as in a realistic field setting. All species were able to take up amino acids injected into the soil solution to some extent, although field uptake was marginal to absent for the endohydric Polytrichum commune. The 11 moss species on average took up 36±5% of the injected glycine and 18±2% of the aspartic acid in the lab experiment. Field uptake of both glycine (24± 5%) and aspartic acid (10±2%) was lower than in the lab. Overall differences in uptake amongst species appeared to be positively associated with habitat wetness and/or turf density among different Sphagnum species and among non-Sphagnum species, respectively. Species from habitats of lower inorganic N availability, as indicated tentatively by lower tissue N concentrations, showed relatively strong amino acid uptake, but this was only significant for the field uptake among non-Sphagnum mosses. Further experiments are needed to test for consistent differences in amino acid uptake capacity among species and functional groups as determined by their functional traits, and to test how the affinity of cold-biome mosses for amino acids compares to that for ammonium or nitrate. Still, our results support the view that widespread moss species in cold, N-stressed ecosystems may derive a significant proportion of their nitrogen demand from free amino acids. This might give them a competitive advantage over plants that depend strongly on inorganic N sources.

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“…As the climate treatments are replicated in a spatially blocked experimental design (Grime et al ., 2000), it seems likely that this divergence has arisen specifically in response to the climate treatments themselves, in parallel with community‐level compositional change (Fridley et al ., 2011). Furthermore, genetic divergence has occurred over a relatively small period of evolutionary time (15 years of experimentation is ≤ 15 generations for our study species).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…BCCIL maintains some of the longest‐running multifactorial climate manipulations in the world. Community composition has remained relatively stable in all experimental treatments (Grime et al ., 2000, 2008). Such stability is rare; the majority of experimental climate manipulation studies report rapid community and ecosystem responses (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such stability is rare; the majority of experimental climate manipulation studies report rapid community and ecosystem responses (e.g. Harte & Shaw, 1995; Grime et al ., 2000; Zavaleta et al ., 2003; Evans et al ., 2011). Genetic adaptation to climatic selection has been hypothesized as one potential mechanism supporting the apparent resistance of this grassland community to long‐term climate manipulations (Grime et al ., 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rapid genetic divergence in response to 15 years of simulated climate change

Ravenscroft

Whitlock

Fridley

2015

Global Change Biology

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Genetic diversity may play an important role in allowing individual species to resist climate change, by permitting evolutionary responses. Our understanding of the potential for such responses to climate change remains limited, and very few experimental tests have been carried out within intact ecosystems. Here, we use amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) data to assess genetic divergence and test for signatures of evolutionary change driven by long‐term simulated climate change applied to natural grassland at Buxton Climate Change Impacts Laboratory (BCCIL). Experimental climate treatments were applied to grassland plots for 15 years using a replicated and spatially blocked design and included warming, drought and precipitation treatments. We detected significant genetic differentiation between climate change treatments and control plots in two coexisting perennial plant study species (Festuca ovina and Plantago lanceolata). Outlier analyses revealed a consistent signature of selection associated with experimental climate treatments at individual AFLP loci in P. lanceolata, but not in F. ovina. Average background differentiation at putatively neutral AFLP loci was close to zero, and genomewide genetic structure was associated neither with species abundance changes (demography) nor with plant community‐level responses to long‐term climate treatments. Our results demonstrate genetic divergence in response to a suite of climatic environments in reproductively mature populations of two perennial plant species and are consistent with an evolutionary response to climatic selection in P. lanceolata. These genetic changes have occurred in parallel with impacts on plant community structure and may have contributed to the persistence of individual species through 15 years of simulated climate change at BCCIL.

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The Response of Two Contrasting Limestone Grasslands to Simulated Climate Change

Cited by 360 publications

References 16 publications

Current ozone levels threaten gross primary production and yield of Mediterranean annual pastures and nitrogen modulates the response

Current ozone levels threaten gross primary production and yield of Mediterranean annual pastures and nitrogen modulates the response

Amino acid uptake among wide-ranging moss species may contribute to their strong position in higher-latitude ecosystems

Rapid genetic divergence in response to 15 years of simulated climate change

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