The effect of experimental inundation and sediment deposition on the survival and growth of two herbaceous riverbank plant species

Flow and sediment regimes of floodplain rivers around the world have been changed by river regulation and land management, altering the ecological processes structuring riparian plant communities. However, the combined effects of inundation and sedimentation processes on riparian plant survival and growth are poorly understood. The separate and interactive effects of inundation duration and sedimentation depth on survival, growth and vegetative reproduction of two herbaceous clonal river bank plant species, Carex bichenoviana and Calotis scapigera, were investigated in an outdoor laboratory experiment. Plants were grown under three levels of sediment addition and two levels of inundation duration and were harvested after 60 days. Both species survived up to 30 days inundation in the absence of sediment. Growth and vegetative reproduction were increased for C. scapigera, but reduced for C. bichenoviana. Sediment deposition during periods of inundation reduced survival of both species, with C. scapigera unable to survive. Carex bichenoviana survived, but as inundation duration and depth of sediment increased, growth and vegetative reproduction were reduced. Our results indicate sediment deposition during flooding can change the tolerance of riparian plant species to inundation, reducing survival and growth.     

Invasion windows for a global legume invader are revealed after joint examination of abiotic and biotic filters

• Successful alien plant invasion is influenced by both climate change and plant–plant interactions. We estimate the single and interactive effects of competition and extreme weather events on the performance of the global legume invader Lupinus polyphyllus (Lindl.).
• In three experimental studies we assessed (i) the stress tolerance of seedling and adult L. polyphyllus plants against extreme weather events (drought, fluctuating precipitation, late frost), (ii) the competitive effects of L. polyphyllus on native grassland species and vice versa, and (iii) the interactive effects of extreme weather events and competition on the performance of L. polyphyllus.
• Drought reduced growth and led to early senescence of L. polyphyllus but did not reduce adult survival. Fluctuating precipitation events and late frost reduced the length of inflorescences. Under control conditions, interspecific competition reduced photosynthetic activity and growth of L. polyphyllus. When subjected to competition during drought, L. polyphyllus conserved water while simultaneously maintaining high assimilation rates, demonstrating increased water use efficiency. Meanwhile, native species had reduced performance under drought.
• In summary, the invader gained an advantage under drought conditions through a smaller reduction in performance relative to its native competitors but was competitively inferior under control conditions. This provides evidence for a possible invasion window for this species. While regions of high elevation or latitude with regular severe late frost events might remain inaccessible for L. polyphyllus, further spread across Europe seems probable as the predicted increase in drought events may favour this non‐native legume over native species.

     

Drought mildly reduces plant dominance in a temperate prairie ecosystem across years

1. Shifts in dominance and species reordering can occur in response to global change. However, it is not clear how altered precipitation and disturbance regimes interact to affect species composition and dominance.
2. We explored community‐level diversity and compositional similarity responses, both across and within years, to a manipulated precipitation gradient and annual clipping in a mixed‐grass prairie in Oklahoma, USA. We imposed seven precipitation treatments (five water exclusion levels [?20%, ?40%, ?60%, ?80%, and ?100%], water addition [+50%], and control [0% change in precipitation]) year‐round from 2016 to 2018 using fixed interception shelters. These treatments were crossed with annual clipping to mimic hay harvest.
3. We found that community‐level responses were influenced by precipitation across time. For instance, plant evenness was enhanced by extreme drought treatments, while plant richness was marginally promoted under increased precipitation.
4. Clipping promoted species gain resulting in greater richness within each experimental year. Across years, clipping effects further reduced the precipitation effects on community‐level responses (richness and evenness) at both extreme drought and added precipitation treatments.
5. Synthesis: Our results highlight the importance of studying interactive drivers of change both within versus across time. For instance, clipping attenuated community‐level responses to a gradient in precipitation, suggesting that management could buffer community‐level responses to drought. However, precipitation effects were mild and likely to accentuate over time to produce further community change.

     

Seed germination responses to seasonal temperature and drought stress are species‐specific but not related to seed size in a desert steppe: Implications for effect of climate change on community structure

Investigating how seed germination of multiple species in an ecosystem responds to environmental conditions is crucial for understanding the mechanisms for community structure and biodiversity maintenance. However, knowledge of seed germination response of species to environmental conditions is still scarce at the community level. We hypothesized that responses of seed germination to environmental conditions differ among species at the community level, and that germination response is not correlated with seed size. To test this hypothesis, we determined the response of seed germination of 20 common species in the Siziwang Desert Steppe, China, to seasonal temperature regimes (representing April, May, June, and July) and drought stress (0, ?0.003, ?0.027, ?0.155, and ?0.87 MPa). Seed germination percentage increased with increasing temperature regime, but Allium ramosum, Allium tenuissimum, Artemisia annua, Artemisia mongolica, Artemisia scoparia, Artemisia sieversiana, Bassia dasyphylla, Kochia prastrata, and Neopallasia pectinata germinated to >60% in the lowest temperature regime (April). Germination decreased with increasing water stress, but Allium ramosum, Artemisia annua, Artemisia scoparia, Bassia dasyphylla, Heteropappus altaicus, Kochia prastrata, Neopallasia pectinata, and Potentilla tanacetifolia germinated to near 60% at ?0.87 MPa. Among these eight species, germination of six was tolerant to both temperature and water stress. Mean germination percentage in the four temperature regimes and the five water potentials was not significantly correlated with seed mass or seed area, which were highly correlated. Our results suggest that the species‐specific germination responses to environmental conditions are important in structuring the desert steppe community and have implications for predicting community structure under climate change. Thus, the predicted warmer and dryer climate will favor germination of drought‐tolerant species, resulting in altered proportions of germinants of different species and subsequently change in community composition of the desert steppe.     

Responses of native and non-native Mojave Desert winter annuals to soil disturbance and water additions

Habitat modification (i.e., disturbance) and resource availability have been identified as possible mechanisms that may influence the invasibility of plant communities. In the Mojave Desert, habitat disturbance has increased dramatically over the last 50 years due to increased human activities. Additionally, water availability is considered to be a main limiting resource for plant production. To elucidate the effects of soil disturbance and water availability on plant invasions, we created experimental patches where we varied the levels of soil disturbance and water availability in a fully crossed factorial experiment at five replicated field sites, and documented responses of native and non-native winter annuals. The treatments did not significantly affect the density (seedlings m⁻²) of the non-native forb, Brassica tournefortii. However, the relationship between silique production and plant height differed among treatments, with greater silique production in disturbed plots. In contrast to Brassica, density of the non-native Schismus spp. increased in soil disturbed and watered plots, and was greatest in disturbed plots during 2009 (the second year of the study). Species composition of the native annual community was not affected by treatments in 2008 but was influenced by treatments in 2009. The native forb Eriophyllum sp. was most dense on water-addition plots, while density of Chaenactis freemontii was highest in disturbed plots. Results illustrate that habitat invasibility in arid systems can be influenced by dynamics in disturbance regimes and water availability, and suggest that invasiveness can differ between non-native annual species and among native annuals in habitats undergoing changing disturbance and precipitation regimes. Understanding the mechanistic relationships between water availability and non-native plant responses will be important for understanding the effects of shifting precipitation and vegetation patterns under predicted climate change in arid ecosystems.     

内蒙古荒漠草原主要草食动物食性及其营养生态位

为探讨荒漠草原主要食草动物(绵羊、达乌尔黄鼠和亚洲小车蝗)的食性及其种间生态位变化与草原退化的关系,以内蒙古苏尼特右旗荒漠草原为研究对象,于2003年7-8月运用饱和链烷技术研究小针茅群落不同放牧强度下绵羊、达乌尔黄鼠和亚洲小车蝗的食性及其生态位变化.结果表明:随牧压的增大,群落中小针茅数量显著减少,猪毛菜比例随着增加;绵羊、达乌尔黄鼠、亚洲小车蝗3种食草动物的主要食物均来源于猪毛菜,且采食比例随牧压增大而递增;3种食草动物对牧草的选择性指数随牧压的变化而变化,双齿葱和多根葱优先被采食;三者生态位重叠程度很高且生态位宽度随牧压的增加而变窄.重度放牧改变了小针茅群落的植物组成,使其演替为猪毛菜群落,3种食草动物对草地资源存在激烈的竞争,因此,控制鼠、虫的种群密度,防止鼠、虫害的发生对保证放牧家畜的食物安全具有十分重要的现实意义.     

Productivity and species richness in an arid ecosystem: a long-term perspective

To examine the different effects of rain pulse size on uptake of summer rains by three dominant desert plants in field conditions of desertified grasslands on the Ordos Plateau of northwestern China, we studied relationships between precipitation event size and rainwater uptake using stable isotopes of hydrogen in plant and soil water. Four natural precipitation events that represented precipitation sizes of 5.3, 8.3, 13.3, and 65.3 mm in the summer were chosen for the experiment. The perennial grass Stipa bungeana, the shrub Artemisia ordosia, and the herb Cynanchum komarovii – the dominant species in the communities – were compared for their use of summer rains with different pulse sizes based on the changes in the hydrogen isotope ratios (δD) of their stem water 7 days following each natural rain event. We found that S. bungeana and C. komarovii took advantage of shallow water sources derived from small (< 10 mm) rain events, A. ordosia took advantage of deeper soil water recharged by large (> 65 mm) rain events, and C. komarovii relied primarily on rain events of intermediate (10–20 mm) size. These different responses to rain pulses among species suggested that more frequent small rain events will promote the dominance of S. bungeana and C. komarovii, medium-sized events will facilitate development of C. komarovii, and large events will advance A. ordosia in this community. The rainwater utilization patterns of the three species would allow the coexistence of S. bungeana and A. ordosia or the coexistence of A. ordosia and C. komorovii in various successional serals following the disturbances. With an increase in variability of summer rain pulse size as predicted by climate change models, we expect that the structure of this community will undergo significant change in the future. Altered precipitation regimes, especially in combination with anthropogenic-related disturbances such as over-grazing, are likely to accelerate rates of degradation in northwestern China.     

Species diversity and community structure in sal (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Shorea robusta</Emphasis>) forests of two different rainfall regimes in West Bengal,India

Knowledge on the structure and composition of the plant communities has enormous significance in conservation and management of forests. The present study aimed to assess the community attributes, viz., structure, composition and diversity in the moist and dry sal (Shorea robusta) forests in the West Bengal province of India and compare them with the other sal forests of India. The phytosociological data from these forests were quantitatively analysed to work out the species richness, diversity, evenness, dominance, importance value, stand density and the basal area. The analysis showed that plant richness and diversity in moist sal forests of northern West Bengal are higher than the dry sal forests of south-west Bengal; a total of 134 tree (cbh ≥30 cm), 113 shrub and 230 herb species were recorded in the moist sal forest compared to 35 tree, 41 shrub and 96 herb species in dry sal forest. Papilionaceae was observed to be the dominant family. Dry sal forests had higher tree dominance (0.81) and stand density (1,006 stems ha⁻¹) but lower basal area (19.62 m²ha⁻¹) while moist sal forest had lower tree dominance (0.18) and stand density (438 stems ha⁻¹) but higher basal area (56.52 m²ha⁻¹). Tree species richness and stem density across girth classes in both the types decreased from the smallest to largest trees, while the occurrence rate of species increased with increase in girth class. A t-test showed significant differences in species richness, basal area and the stand density at 95% confidence level (p = <0.05) in the two forest types. The CCA indicated very low overall match (canonical correlation value = 0.40) between the two sets of variables from moist and dry sal types. The differences in these forests could be attributed to the distinct variations in climatic conditions- mainly the rainfall, disturbance regimes and the management practices.     

Plant community responses to increased precipitation and belowground litter addition: Evidence from a 5‐year semiarid grassland experiment

Global climate change is predicted to stimulate primary production and consequently increases litter inputs. Changing precipitation regimes together with enhanced litter inputs may affect plant community composition and structure, with consequent influence on diversity and ecosystem functioning. Responses of plant community to increased precipitation and belowground litter addition were examined lasting 5 years in a semiarid temperate grassland of northeastern China. Increased precipitation enhanced community species richness and abundance of annuals by 16.8% and 44%, but litter addition suppressed them by 25% and 54.5% after 5 years, respectively. During the study period, perennial rhizome grasses and forbs had consistent negative relationship under ambient plots, whereas positive relationship between the two functional groups was found under litter addition plots after 5 years. In addition, increased precipitation and litter addition showed significant interaction on community composition, because litter addition significantly increased biomass and abundance of rhizome grasses under increased precipitation plots but had no effect under ambient precipitation levels. Our findings emphasize the importance of water availability in modulating the responses of plants community to potentially enhanced litter inputs in the semiarid temperate grassland.     

Effects of NPK fertilisation in arid southern Mongolian desert steppes

Few studies have been performed on the importance of nutrient availability for plant productivity at <200 mm annual precipitation and available meta-analyses have produced contradicting results. Here, we present data from a 3-year experiment on the effects of NPK-fertilisation under ambient precipitation in dry Central Asian steppes. The study site had an annual mean precipitation of ca. 160 mm and represented an intensively grazed montane desert steppe. One year of NPK-fertilisation at levels equivalent to 10 and 20 gN/m² (100 and 200 kg/ha) increased above-ground mean standing crop in a moist year to 1130 and 1490 kg dry mass/ha, respectively, compared to the 615 kg/ha from the control. The absolute increase was smaller in subsequent drier years, but the crop again more than doubled under fertilisation. The effects were most pronounced for the main fodder plants Agropyron cristatum and Allium polyrrhizum, which benefited from fertilisation more than other less palatable species. Both species also showed increased levels of foliar N. Fertilisation enhanced flowering activity on the community level, and soil analyses revealed that nutrients accumulate in the soil. Effects are therefore expected to be long lasting. Our results imply that nutrient shortage may co-limit plant growth at well below 200 mm annual precipitation. Considering that predominantly nomadic land use is known to result in nutrient withdrawal, our data raise concerns of a largely unnoticed potential pathway to pasture degradation.     

Effects of extreme weather events and legume presence on mycorrhization of Plantago lanceolata and Holcus lanatus in the field

Little is known about direct and indirect effects of extreme weather events on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) under field conditions. In a field experiment, we investigated the response of mycorrhization to drought and heavy rain in grassland communities. We quantified AMF biomass in soil, mycorrhization of roots of the grass Holcus lanatus and the forb Plantago lanceolata, as well as plant performance. Plants were grown in four‐species communities with or without a legume. We hypothesised that drought increases and heavy rain decreases mycorrhization, and that higher mycorrhization will be linked to improved stress resistance and higher biomass production. Soil AMF biomass increased under both weather extremes. Heavy rain generally benefitted plants and increased arbuscules in P. lanceolata. Drought neither reduced plant performance nor root mycorrhization. Arbuscules increased in H. lanatus several weeks after drought, and in P. lanceolata several weeks after heavy rain spells. These long‐lasting effects of weather events on mycorrhization highlight the indirect influence of climate on AMF via their host plant. Legume presence increased plant community biomass, but had only minor effects on mycorrhization. Arbuscule colonisation was negatively correlated with senescence during the dry summer. Mycorrhization and biomass production in P. lanceolata were positively related. However, increased mycorrhization was related to less biomass in the grass. AMF mycelium in soil might generally increase under extreme events, root colonisation, however, is host species specific. This might amplify community shifts in grassland under climate change by further increasing stress resistance of species that already benefit from changed precipitation.     

Soil prokaryotic community shows no response to 2 years of simulated nitrogen deposition in an arid ecosystem in northwestern China

An arid ecosystem might be sensitive to nitrogen (N) deposition, but the associated ecosystem-specific response of soil microbes is not well studied. To assess the N enrichment effects on plant and prokaryotic community diversity, we performed a two-year NH₄NO₃ treatment in a desert steppe in northwestern China. Results showed that N addition increased plant aboveground biomass and decreased plant Shannon diversity. A C₄ herb (Salsola collina) became dominant, and loss of legume species was observed. The concentrations of soil NH₄⁺-N, NO₃⁻-N, microbial biomass N, and the plant aboveground biomass N pool increased in contrast to total N, suggesting that the N input into the arid ecosystem might mainly be assimilated by plants and exit the ecosystem. Remarkably, the α-diversity and structure of the soil prokaryotic community did not vary even at the highest N addition rate. Structural equation modelling further found that the plant aboveground N pool counteracted the acidification effect of N deposition and maintained soil pH thus partially stabilizing the composition of prokaryotic communities in a desert steppe. These findings suggested that the plants and N loss might contribute to the lack of responsiveness of soil prokaryotic community to N deposition in a desert steppe.     

Climate change effects on plant biomass alter dominance patterns and community evenness in an experimental old‐field ecosystem

Atmospheric and climatic change can alter plant biomass production and plant community composition. However, we know little about how climate change‐induced alterations in biomass production affect plant species composition. To better understand how climate change will alter both individual plant species and community biomass, we manipulated atmospheric [CO₂], air temperature, and precipitation in a constructed old‐field ecosystem. Specifically, we compared the responses of dominant and subdominant species to our climatic treatments, and explored how changes in plant dominance patterns alter community evenness over 2 years. Our study resulted in four major findings: (1) all treatments, elevated [CO₂], warming, and increased precipitation increased plant community biomass and the effects were additive rather than interactive, (2) plant species differed in their response to the treatments, resulting in shifts in the proportional biomass of individual species, which altered the plant community composition; however, the plant community response was largely driven by the positive precipitation response of Lespedeza, the most dominant species in the community, (3) precipitation explained most of the variation in plant community composition among treatments, and (4) changes in precipitation caused a shift in the dominant species proportional biomass that resulted in lower community evenness in the wet relative to dry treatments. Interestingly, compositional and evenness responses of the subdominant community to the treatments did not always follow the responses of the whole plant community. Our data suggest that changes in plant dominance patterns and community evenness are an important part of community responses to climatic change, and generally, that such compositional shifts can alter ecosystem biomass production and nutrient inputs.     

The influences of increased CO2 and water supply on growth,biomass allocation and water use efficiency of Sinapis alba L. grown under different wind speeds

We examined how independent and interactive effects of CO₂ concentrations, water supply and wind speed affect growth rates, biomass partitioning, water use efficiency, diffusive conductance and stomatal density of plants. To test the prediction that wind stress will be ameliorated by increased CO₂ and/or by unrestricted water supply we grew Sinapis alba L. plants in controlled chambers under combinations of two levels of CO₂ (350 ppmv, 700 ppmv), two water regimes and two wind speeds (0.3 ms^–1, 3.7 ms^–1). We harvested at ten different dates over a period of 60 days. A growth analysis was carried out to evaluate treatment effects on plant responses. Plants grown both in increased CO₂ and in low wind conditions had significantly greater stem length, leaf area and dry weights of plant parts. Water supply significantly affected stem diameter, root weight and leaf area. CO₂ enrichment significantly increased the rate of biomass accumulation and the relative ratio of biomass increase to leaf area expansion. High wind speed significantly reduced plant growth rates and the rate of leaf area expansion was reduced more than the rate of biomass accumulation. Regression analysis showed significant CO₂ effects on the proportion of leaf and stem dry weight to total dry weight. A marked plant-age effect was dependent on water supply, wind speed and CO₂ concentration. A reduced water supply significantly decreased the stomatal conductance, and water use efficiency significantly increased with a limited water supply, low wind and increased CO₂. We found significant CO₂ x wind effects for water diffusion resistance, adaxial number of stomata and water use efficiencies and significant wind x water effect for water use efficiency. In conclusion, wind stress was ameliorated by growing in unrestricted water but not by growing in increased CO₂.     

Exotic Ecosystem Engineers Change the Emergence of Plants from the Seed Bank of a Deciduous Forest

The anthropogenic spread of exotic ecosystem engineers profoundly impacts native ecosystems. Exotic earthworms were shown to alter plant community composition of the understory of deciduous forests previously devoid of earthworms. We investigated the effect of two exotic earthworm species (Lumbricus terrestris L. and Octolasion tyrtaeum Savigny) belonging to different ecological groups (anecic and endogeic) on the emergence of plants from the seed bank of a northern North American deciduous forest using the seedling emergence method. We hypothesized that (1) exotic earthworms change the seedling emergence from the plant seed bank, (2) L. terrestris increases the emergence of plant seedlings of the deeper soil layer but decreases that of the upper soil layer due to plant seed burial, and (3) O. tyrtaeum decreases plant seedling emergence due the damage of plant seeds. Indeed, exotic earthworms altered the emergence of plant seedlings from the seed bank and the functional composition of the established plant seedlings. Surprisingly, although L. terrestris only marginally affected seedling emergence, O. tyrtaeum changed the emergence of native plant species from the seed bank considerably. In particular, the number of emerging grass and herb seedlings were increased in the presence of O. tyrtaeum in both soil layers. Moreover, the impacts of earthworms depended on the identity of plant functional groups; herb species benefited, whereas legumes suffered from the presence of exotic earthworms. The results highlight the strong effect of invasive belowground ecosystem engineers on aboveground ecosystem characteristics and suggest fundamental changes of ecosystems by human-spread earthworm species.     

Estimating plant competition coefficients and predicting community dynamics from non-destructive pin-point data: a case study with Calluna?vulgaris and Deschampsia?flexuosa

A method is proposed for estimating plant competition coefficients and predicting the dynamics of herb and grassland plant communities from non-destructive pin-point measurements. The method is applied to inter-specific competition in a natural heathland community with relatively few interacting species. The study shows that the dynamics of the heathland plant community may be thought of as essentially a two-species system of Calluna vulgaris and Deschampsia flexuosa. There were significant competitive interactions between C. vulgaris and D. flexuosa. D. flexuosa affected both the cover and compactness of C. vulgaris individuals as a function of the compactness the previous year, whereas C. vulgaris significantly affected only the compactness of D. flexuosa. There was a significant negative effect of drought on the compactness of both C. vulgaris and D. flexuosa individuals, whereas night warming had no significant effects on either species. The predicted long-term outcome of the competitive interaction between C. vulgaris and D. flexuosa was that of unstable equilibrium, where the more dominant of the two will outcompete the other. However, when both species are found at relatively high plant covers the two species are predicted to co-exist for a long time period relatively to the time scale of the ageing process of C. vulgaris. Direct analyses of the inter-specific competitive interactions in natural plant communities with non-destructive measurements can provide important new insight into the processes that determine the composition of plant communities.     

Ecological filtering by a dominant herb selects for shade tolerance in the tree seedling community of coastal dune forest

The regeneration niche is commonly partitioned along a gradient from shade-tolerant to shade-intolerant species to explain plant community assembly in forests. We examined the shade tolerance of tree seedlings in a subtropical coastal forest to determine whether the ecological filtering effect of a dominant, synchronously monocarpic herb (Isoglossa woodii) selects for species at either end of the light response continuum during the herb’s vegetative and reproductive phases. Photosynthetic characteristics of seedlings of 20 common tree species and the herb were measured. Seedlings were grown in the greenhouse at 12–14% irradiance, and their light compensation points measured using an open-flow gas exchange system. The light compensation points for the tree species were low, falling within a narrow range from 2.1 ± 0.8 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ in Celtis africana to 6.4 ± 0.7 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ in Allophylus natalensis, indicating general shade tolerance, consistent with a high and narrow range of apparent quantum yield among species (0.078 ± 0.002 mol CO₂ mol⁻¹ photon). Rates of dark respiration were significantly lower in a generalist pioneer species (Acacia karroo) than in a forest pioneer (C. africana), or in late successional phase forest species. We argue that the general shade tolerance, and phenotypic clustering of shade tolerance, in many tree species from several families in this system, is a result of ecological filtering by the prevailing low light levels beneath the I. woodii understorey, which excludes most light-demanding species from the seedling community.     

Interactive effects of mycorrhizae and a root hemiparasite on plant community productivity and diversity

Plant communities can be affected both by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and hemiparasitic plants. However, little is known about the interactive effects of these two biotic factors on the productivity and diversity of plant communities. To address this question, we set up a greenhouse study in which different AMF inocula and a hemiparasitic plant (Rhinanthus minor) were added to experimental grassland communities in a fully factorial design. In addition, single plants of each species in the grassland community were grown with the same treatments to distinguish direct AMF effects from indirect effects via plant competition. We found that AMF changed plant community structure by influencing the plant species differently. At the community level, AMF decreased the productivity by 15–24%, depending on the particular AMF treatment, mainly because two dominant species, Holcus lanatus and Plantago lanceolata, showed a negative mycorrhizal dependency. Concomitantly, plant diversity increased due to AMF inoculation and was highest in the treatment with a combination of two commercial AM strains. AMF had a positive effect on growth of the hemiparasite, and thereby induced a negative impact of the hemiparasite on host plant biomass which was not found in non-inoculated communities. However, the hemiparasite did not increase plant diversity. Our results highlight the importance of interactions with soil microbes for plant community structure and that these indirect effects can vary among AMF treatments. We conclude that mutualistic interactions with AMF, but not antagonistic interactions with a root hemiparasite, promote plant diversity in this grassland community. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

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

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.     

Press–pulse interactions: effects of warming,N deposition,altered winter precipitation,and fire on desert grassland community structure and dynamics

Global environmental change is altering temperature, precipitation patterns, resource availability, and disturbance regimes. Theory predicts that ecological presses will interact with pulse events to alter ecosystem structure and function. In 2006, we established a long‐term, multifactor global change experiment to determine the interactive effects of nighttime warming, increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, and increased winter precipitation on plant community structure and aboveground net primary production (ANPP) in a northern Chihuahuan Desert grassland. In 2009, a lightning‐caused wildfire burned through the experiment. Here, we report on the interactive effects of these global change drivers on pre‐ and postfire grassland community structure and ANPP. Our nighttime warming treatment increased winter nighttime air temperatures by an average of 1.1 °C and summer nighttime air temperature by 1.5 °C. Soil N availability was 2.5 times higher in fertilized compared with control plots. Average soil volumetric water content (VWC) in winter was slightly but significantly higher (13.0% vs. 11.0%) in plots receiving added winter rain relative to controls, and VWC was slightly higher in warmed (14.5%) compared with control (13.5%) plots during the growing season even though surface soil temperatures were significantly higher in warmed plots. Despite these significant treatment effects, ANPP and plant community structure were highly resistant to these global change drivers prior to the fire. Burning reduced the cover of the dominant grasses by more than 75%. Following the fire, forb species richness and biomass increased significantly, particularly in warmed, fertilized plots that received additional winter precipitation. Thus, although unburned grassland showed little initial response to multiple ecological presses, our results demonstrate how a single pulse disturbance can interact with chronic alterations in resource availability to increase ecosystem sensitivity to multiple drivers of global environmental change.