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Published on: November 21, 2015
Climate-driven diversity change in annual grasslands: Drought plus deluge does not equal normal
Susan P Harrison1, Marina L LaForgia2, Andrew M Latimer2
1Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
Climate change impacts grassland resilience. Prolonged droughts reduce plant species richness, and wet years do not restore diversity. This highlights the need to understand ecosystem recovery potential under increasing climate variability.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Climate Change Biology
- Plant Ecology
Background:
- Climate change forecasts predict increased variability and extreme weather events, impacting water availability in terrestrial ecosystems.
- Droughts are intensifying due to warmer temperatures and sporadic rainfall patterns, affecting ecosystem resilience.
- Annual grasslands are vulnerable to climate variability, experiencing declines in plant species richness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the resilience of an annual grassland community to a sequence of prolonged dry winters followed by a wet winter.
- To assess the impact of water availability on plant species richness, seedling survival, and functional traits.
- To understand the mechanisms behind diversity loss and recovery potential in grasslands under climate variability.
Main Methods:
- Utilized long-term observational data (2000-2014) from 80 5-m² plots to track species richness trends.
- Conducted experiments on 100 1-m² plots with water supplementation and drought shelters to manipulate water availability.
- Analyzed the effects of water manipulation on seedling survival, individual biomass, species cover, and functional traits like specific leaf area.
Main Results:
- Species richness declined over 18 years and did not recover after a wet winter, weakening the relationship between richness and rainfall.
- Water supplementation increased native forb seedling survival and biomass, while drought shelters decreased them.
- Water supplementation increased native forb cover but only enhanced richness in subplots with added seeds, indicating seedbank limitations.
Conclusions:
- Prolonged dry periods can deplete the seedbank of native forbs, diminishing the grassland's capacity for diversity recovery.
- While individual species richness may not recover, functional traits like specific leaf area showed recovery, suggesting potential stabilization through functional redundancy.
- Grassland communities face significant challenges in maintaining diversity under predicted future climate scenarios of high variability.
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