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43 results for “plant community dynamics”

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dryad32/100

Data from: Animals alter precipitation legacies: trophic and ecosystem engineering effects on plant community temporal dynamics

1. Multi-year precipitation 'legacies' can have stronger effects on plant community composition than rainfall in the current growing season, but variation in the magnitude of these effects is not fully understood. Direct interactions between plants and animals, such as herbivory, and indirect interactions, such as ecosystem engineering (via changes in the physical environment), may influence precipitation legacies by altering mechanisms of lagged effects. However, the role of direct and indirect plant-animal interactions in determining the strength of precipitation legacies remains largely unexplored. 2. Here, we investigated effects of current growing season rainfall and precipitation legacies on grassland composition, and the influence of herbivory and ecosystem engineering interactions on these temporal dynamics. From 2009 to 2014, a period spanning high and low rainfall, we recorded plant cover in kangaroo rat exclosures and paired control plots that included both burrow and inter-burrow areas. We used linear mixed effects modeling and analysis of community dissimilarities to evaluate plant composition responses to current and previous growing season rainfall and kangaroo rat herbivory (presence of seed foraging) and ecosystem engineering (burrowing). 3. We found that community composition was more strongly affected by precipitation legacies than by current growing season rainfall. Greater precipitation in the previous growing season enhanced grass cover and reduced forb and legume cover. Kangaroo rat trophic and engineering interactions had counteracting effects on these legacies. While burrowing increased grass cover and thereby amplified the effects of previous growing season rainfall on community composition, legacies were suppressed by the presence of kangaroo rat foraging, which decreased grass cover. Further analysis revealed that kangaroo rat foraging and burrowing had conflicting effects on residual plant biomass prior to the growing season, suggesting that precipitation legacies were influenced by altered litter dynamics. 4. Synthesis. Our study demonstrates that animals can impact the strength of precipitation legacies through direct and indirect interactions with the plant species that drive lag effects. The influence of multiple types of plant-animal interactions on precipitation legacies may be important to consider for ecosystem management and when generating predictions of community composition and productivity in future ecosystems.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

dryad32/100

Data from: Chronic nitrogen addition induces a cascade of plant community responses with both seasonal and progressive dynamics

Short-lived herbaceous plants provide a useful model to rapidly reveal how multiple generations of plants in natural plant communities of sensitive desert ecosystems will be affected by N deposition. We monitored dynamic responses of community structure, richness, evenness, density and biomass of herbaceous plants to experimental N addition (2:1 NH4+:NO3− added at 0, 0.5, 1, 3, 6 and 24 g N m− 2 a− 1) in three seasons in each of three years in the Gurbantunggut desert, a typical temperate desert of central Asia. We found clear rate-dependent and season-dependent effects of N deposition on each of these variables, in most cases becoming more obvious through time. N addition reduced plant richness, leading to a loss of about half of the species after three generations in the highest N application level. Evenness and density were relatively insensitive to all but the greatest levels of N addition for two generations, but negative effects emerged in the third generation. Biomass, both above and below ground, was non-linearly affected by N deposition. Low and intermediate levels of N deposition often increased biomass, whereas the highest level suppressed biomass. Stimulatory effects of intermediate N addition disappeared in the third generation. All of these responses are strongly interrelated in a cascade of changes. Notably, changes in biomass due to N deposition were mediated by declines in richness and evenness, and other changes in community structure, rather than solely being the direct outcome of release from limitation. The interrelationships between N deposition and the different plant community attributes change not only seasonally, but also progressively change through time. These temporal changes appear to be largely independent of interannual or seasonal climatic conditions.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

dryad32/100

Data from: Microenvironment and functional-trait context dependence predict alpine plant community dynamics

Predicting the structure and dynamics of communities is difficult. Approaches linking functional traits to niche boundaries, species co‐occurrence and demography are promising, but have so far had limited success. We hypothesized that predictability in community ecology could be improved by incorporating more accurate measures of fine‐scale environmental heterogeneity and the context‐dependent function of traits. We tested these hypotheses using long term whole‐community demography data from an alpine plant community in Colorado. Species distributions along microenvironmental gradients covaried with traits important for below‐ground processes. Positive associations between species distributions across life stages could not be explained by abiotic microenvironment alone, consistent with facilitative processes. Rates of growth, survival, fecundity and recruitment were predicted by the direct and interactive effects of trait, microenvironment, macroenvironment and neighbourhood axes. Synthesis. Context‐dependent interactions between multiple traits and microenvironmental axes are needed to predict fine‐scale community structure and dynamics.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

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Data from: Temporal dynamics of plant-soil feedback and root-associated fungal communities over 100 years of invasion by a non-native plant

1. Pathogens can accumulate on invasive plants over time, which could lead to population declines. The time required for these dynamics to occur is unknown and seldom addressed. Furthermore, no study has assessed plant-soil feedback while characterising plant pathogen and mutualist root fungal communities in the context of invasion time. 2. We used a plant-soil feedback study and 454 pyrosequencing to investigate pathogen accumulation over 100 years on a highly invasive plant in eastern North America that shows localised declines, Vincetoxicum rossicum (Apocynaceae). 3. We collected soil from five sites representing each of four invasion periods of V. rossicum across Ontario, Canada (old, ~100 years; intermediate, 50-60 years; young, <12 years; and uninvaded), and grew V. rossicum in these soils in a glasshouse study. Our hypothesis was that plants grown in soils invaded for longer periods of time would experience less positive feedbacks compared to those grown in more recently invaded or uninvaded soils. We collected roots of V. rossicum from the invasion periods and performed 454 pyrosequencing targeting fungi. We hypothesised that the abundance and richness of fungi that are known plant pathogens would be higher in roots from older invasions compared to more recent invasions. 4. Contrasting with our hypothesis, V. rossicum experienced overall growth promotion due to soil biota, regardless of invasion period. Vincetoxicum rossicum roots were colonised by a large number of fungal taxa, including many known plant pathogens or mutualistic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. However, we found no evidence of pathogen accumulation in older invaded sites in terms of species composition, richness or abundance. 5. Synthesis: Our consistent results in the glasshouse and the field highlight the strength of combining high-throughput sequencing data with plant-soil feedback experiments. We showed that the roots of Vincetoxicum rossicum (Apocynaceae) were colonised by many fungal taxa, but found no evidence for changes in plant growth or accumulation of fungal pathogens with longer invasion time. High pathogen loads may not lead to concurrent declines in invasive plants. Plant invasions, as demonstrated by V. rossicum, may be unpredictable in their ability to accumulate pathogens capable of leading to population declines.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

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