Find research datasets worth reusing

opencc-by-4.0Feb 2024View details →

Predictability of abrupt shifts in dryland ecosystem functioning

Data and code accompanying the paper: Bernardino, P., De Keersmaecker, W., Horion, S., Oehmcke, S., Gieseke, F., Fensholt, R., Van De Kerchove, R., Lhermitte, S., Abel, C., Van Meerbeek, K., Verbesselt, J., and Somers, B. 2024. Predictability of abrupt shifts in dryland ecosystem functioning. Nature Climate Change, doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02201-0.

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

Directional selection shifts trait distributions of planted species in dryland restoration

1. The match between species trait values and local abiotic filters can restrict community membership. An often-implicit assumption of this relationship is that abiotic filters select for a single locally optimal strategy, though difficulty in isolating effects of the abiotic environment from those of dispersal limitation and biotic interactions has resulted in few empirical tests of this assumption. Similar constraints have made it difficult to assess whether the type and intensity of abiotic filters shift along gradients of environmental harshness, as predicted by the stress dominance hypothesis. 2. We planted 9,216 plants of perennial grass and forb species that had a range of functional trait values and were assigned to a warm, intermediate, or cool temperature tolerance pools across eight sites on the Colorado Plateau. We compared the distributions of traits of surviving individuals to null distributions to evaluate whether there were shifts in trait means and variation. Borrowing from phenotypic selection concepts in evolutionary biology, we assessed support for stabilizing, directional, and disruptive abiotic filtering of trait distributions and whether these types of filtering varied with initial species pool. 3. Functional composition was significantly different from null distributions for nearly all traits at all sites, with trait variation more restricted in harsher abiotic conditions, supporting the stress-dominance hypothesis. Contrary to expectations, we primarily found evidence for directional selection, which increased in frequency in warm species pools while disruptive selection was found more often in cool and intermediate species pools. 4. Synthesis: This study provides a controlled experimental approach to test the effect of the abiotic environment on plant trait filtering. We found that opportunistic strategies allowing for rapid water acquisition during favorable periods improved survival at warmer sites. Species with these strategies may be expected to benefit from increasing aridity and may be selected for active management efforts. More generally, the prevalence of directional selection may have important implications for dynamic vegetation models that rely on trait distributions for translating environmental variation into ecosystem processes.

opencc-zeroMar 2022View details →

Divergent climate change effects on widespread dryland plant communities driven by climatic and ecohydrological gradients

Plant community response to climate change will be influenced by individual plant responses that emerge from competition for limiting resources that fluctuate through time and vary across space. Projecting these responses requires an approach that integrates environmental conditions and species interactions that result from future climatic variability. Dryland plant communities are being substantially affected by climate change because their structure and function are closely tied to precipitation and temperature, yet impacts vary substantially due to environmental heterogeneity, especially in topographically complex regions. Here, we quantified the effects of climate change on big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) plant communities that span 76 million ha in the western United States. We used an individual-based plant simulation model that represents intra- and inter-specific competition for water availability, which is represented by a process-based soil water balance model. For dominant plant functional types, we quantified changes in biomass and characterized agreement among 52 future climate scenarios. We then used a multivariate matching algorithm to generate fine-scale interpolated surfaces of functional type biomass for our study area. Results suggest geographically divergent responses of big sagebrush to climate change (changes in biomass of -20% to +27%), declines in perennial C3 grass and perennial forb biomass in most sites, and widespread, consistent, and sometimes large increases in perennial C4 grasses. The largest declines in big sagebrush, perennial C3 grass and perennial forb biomass were simulated in warm, dry sites. In contrast, we simulated no change or increases in functional type biomass in cold, moist sites. There was high agreement among climate scenarios on climate change impacts to functional type biomass, except for big sagebrush. Collectively, these results suggest divergent responses to warming in moisture-limited vs. temperature-limited sites and potential shifts in the relative importance of some of the dominant functional types that result from competition for limiting resources.

opencc-zeroMay 2022View details →

Dead Again: Predictions of repeat tree die-off under hotter droughts confirm mortality thresholds for a dryland conifer species

Tree die-off, driven by extreme drought and exacerbated by a warming climate, is occurring rapidly across every wooded continent - threatening carbon sinks and other ecosystem services provided by forests and woodlands. Forecasting the spatial patterns of tree die-off in response to drought is a priority for the management and conservation of forested ecosystems under projected future hotter and drier climates. Several drought-related metrics have recently been proposed to predict the mortality threshold (i.e., tipping point) for Pinus edulis, a model tree species in many studies of drought-induced tree die-off. To improve future capacity to forecast tree mortality, we used a severe drought in 2018 across the southwestern United States as a natural experiment. We compared the ability of published mortality thresholds derived from four drought metrics (the Forest Drought Severity Index, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, and raw values of precipitation and vapor pressure deficit) to predict areas of P. edulis die-off following extreme drought. Using aerial detection surveys of tree mortality in combination with gridded climate data, we calculated the agreement between these four proposed thresholds and the presence and absence of regional-scale tree die-off. Overall, such thresholds tended to over predict the spatial extent of tree die-off across the landscape, yet some retain moderate skill in discriminating between areas that experienced and did not experience tree die-off. Area under the curve (AUC) of these thresholds ranged from 0.51 to 0.71, sensitivity (true-positive rate) ranged from 0.54 to 0.86, and specificity (true-negative rates) ranged from 0.16 to 0.73. We highlight that empirically derived climate thresholds may be a useful forecasting tool to identify vulnerable areas to drought induced die-off, allowing for targeted responses to future droughts and improved management of at-risk areas.

opencc-zeroJun 2022View details →

Cross-scale drivers of woody plant species commonness and rarity in the Brazilian drylands

Aim: Locally abundant species are typically widespread, while locally scarce species are geographically restricted – the so-called abundance-occupancy relationships (AORs). AORs help explain the drivers of species rarity and community assembly, but little is known about how variation around such relationships is driven by species traits and niche-based processes, particularly in tropical woody plants. We tested the hypothesis that AORs in tropical dryland woody plants are positive and mediated by niche and functional traits along environmental gradients. Location: The Caatinga dry forest and Cerrado savannah, Brazil. Methods: We aggregated abundance and occurrence data into grid-cells representing local (10-km) to landscape scales (50-km). We calculated species mean relative abundance at occupied grid-cells (local abundance) and the proportion of grid-cells occupied (occupancy), and estimated their niche breadth and marginality along multivariate environmental gradients. Results: AORs were positive but weak at different scales in both regions due to some locally abundant but geographically restricted species, with most species being both locally and geographically rare. Cross-species variation in local abundance was largely unpredictable, but occupancy was strongly driven by niche and functional traits, with a prominent negative effect of niche marginality. Geographically restricted species were associated with rare habitats, such as wetter and less intensively used habitats. Large seeds and abiotic dispersal favoured occupancy in Caatinga at small and large spatial scales, respectively, whereas species with conservative leaves were more widespread across scales in Cerrado. Main conclusions: Woody plants in dry tropical biotas exhibit weak AORs, likely related to low habitat availability and dispersal limitation. Caatinga and Cerrado emerge as environmentally structured at multiple spatial scales, with several habitat-specialist rare species bearing specific regenerative and resource-use traits and relying on conditions threatened by climate change and land-use intensification. Examining AORs through the lens of niche, functional traits and spatial scales enables mapping patterns and drivers of species commonness and rarity, enhancing understanding of species assembly and providing tools for biodiversity conservation.

opencc-zeroJun 2022View details →

Functional composition of plant communities mediates biomass effects on ecosystem service recovery across an experimental dryland restoration network

Land degradation can result in a loss of critical ecosystem services that we often seek to restore through re-establishment of desired plant communities. Trait-based approaches have the potential to target specific ecosystem services based on associations between the functional composition of plant communities and ecosystem properties that serve as indicators of those services. The effect of functional composition on ecosystem recovery may depend on the amount of restored plant biomass, itself a supporting service frequently targeted in restoration efforts. Yet, interactions between functional composition and biomass are not formally integrated into trait-based analytical frameworks. We tested the hypothesis that functional composition of plant communities both drives, and interacts with, biomass production to influence indicators of soil functioning and weed suppression across a network of degraded dryland restoration experiments. This networked approach allowed us to identify generalized effects of functional composition on ecosystem recovery across a range of dryland climate conditions. Climate had a substantial effect on ecosystem indicators, with weed cover and soil surface stability increasing in more arid climates, water infiltration increasing with precipitation, and aggregate structure increasing with less freezing. After accounting for climate effects across study sites, we found significant effects of community-weighted mean (CWM) trait values on biomass, particularly a positive effect of leaf carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, and of CWM-biomass interactions on other ecosystem indicators. Cover of exotic species was reduced in restored communities with a combination of low leaf dry matter content and high biomass, soil water infiltration increased with lower specific root length and high biomass, and soil aggregate stability increased with higher root dry matter content and high biomass, among other effects. Functional diversity had no significant effects on any ecosystem indicators. Synthesis: The influence of community functional composition on ecosystem properties increases with community biomass, particularly in disturbed or low productivity systems. This suggests that active management should not only focus on trait values that optimize individual ecosystem indicators, but also how those functional strategies are complementary or counter to those that increase biomass.

ChinaCropSM1km: a fine 1km daily Soil Moisture dataset for dryland wheat and maize across China during 1993–2018

ChinaCropSM1km provides 1km gridded daily Soil Moisture for Crop drylands across China over 1993–2018, which contains four daily datasets separately by crop type and soil depth (crop-type soil-depth). This dataset is maize0-10. *** The data file is in “.tif" format *** Spatial extent: maize drylands across China *** Soil depth: 0-10cm *** Temporal Resolution: Daily *** Pixel size: 1000 m *** Projection information: GCS_WGS_1984 *** Filename convention: Year_DOY.tif *** Year: Values from 1993 to 2018

ChinaCropSM1km: a fine 1km daily Soil Moisture dataset for dryland wheat and maize across China during 1993–2018

ChinaCropSM1km provides 1km gridded daily Soil Moisture for Crop drylands across China over 1993–2018, which contains four daily datasets separately by crop type and soil depth (crop-type soil-depth). This dataset is maize10-20. *** The data file is in “.tif" format *** Spatial extent: maize drylands across China *** Soil depth: 10-20cm *** Temporal Resolution: Daily *** Pixel size: 1000 m *** Projection information: GCS_WGS_1984 *** Filename convention: Year_DOY.tif *** Year: Values from 1993 to 2018

ChinaCropSM1km: a fine 1km daily Soil Moisture dataset for dryland wheat and maize across China during 1993–2018

ChinaCropSM1km provides 1km gridded daily Soil Moisture for Crop drylands across China over 1993–2018, which contains four daily datasets separately by crop type and soil depth (crop-type soil-depth). This dataset is wheat10-20. *** The data file is in “.tif" format *** Spatial extent: wheat drylands across China *** Soil depth: 10-20cm *** Temporal Resolution: Daily *** Pixel size: 1000 m *** Projection information: GCS_WGS_1984 *** Filename convention: Year_DOY.tif *** Year: Values from 1993 to 2018

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

Intraspecific trait variation in a dryland tree species corresponds to regional climate gradients

Aim: Intraspecific trait variation is fundamental to understanding a species' adaptive capacity. Assessing phenotypic variation at different ecological scales is useful for evaluating species' vulnerability to changing environmental conditions. Here we quantify the ecological scale of variation of phenotypic functional traits for a widespread dryland tree species in the western United States, Pinus monophylla, and evaluate the strength of trait-environment relationships across spatial gradients and in response to interannual variability in weather conditions. Location: Western United States Taxon: Conifer tree (Pinaceae): Pinus monophylla Methods: Nine reproductive and foliar morphological traits were measured from 23 sampling locations in nine mountain ranges, stratified across broad-scale gradients of precipitation timing and quantity and local gradients of elevation. We partitioned trait variation within and among nested ecological scales (mountain range, site, tree, and tree growth year). We then used multivariate methods to quantify the association between environmental variables and ecological trade-offs associated with both reproductive and foliar traits. Results: Most variation was explained at the scale of individual trees (18–46%) and between growth years (20–30%), with smaller but variable contributions at the scale of sites (8–25%) and mountain ranges (0–15%). Trait values had low correlation with environmental variables (13%); however, 94% of the trait-environment covariance was explained by two major axes of variation: (1) the drought-stress gradient covarying with reproductive traits, and (2) precipitation patterns covarying with foliar morphology. Main conclusions: High levels of individual trait variation indicate within-population adaptive capacity. Consistent relationships among range-wide patterns of foliar and reproductive traits and broad-scale climate gradients provide indirect evidence of local adaptation and may inform seed sourcing for restoration or the potential for assisted migration efforts. Quantification of intraspecific trait variation across multiple ecological scales is important for understanding the potential climate change response of dryland tree species.

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

Effects of land clearing for agriculture on soil organic carbon stocks in drylands: A meta-analysis

To improve our understanding of clearing natural ecosystems for cropland on soil organic carbon stocks in drylands, we searched for related peer-reviewed research papers published from 1980 to 2022 on the Web of Science (<a href="https://www.webofscience.com">https://www.webofscience.com</a>) and the Scopus Database (<a href="https://www.scopus.com">https://www.scopus.com</a>) (accessed on 30th April 2022). Then, we screened papers for integrity, relevance, and scientific merit under the following criteria: (1) We made sure all studies were independent and based on field-measured data; (2) Each study had to report paired SOC stocks of cropland and adjacent natural ecosystems with the same or a similar suite of environmental factors; (3) Studies need to explicitly present results on SOC stocks or concentrations for certain depths and areas; (4) Studies have specified the types of natural ecosystems that were converted to cropland, which are used as criteria for defining CNEC types. Finally, we winnowed results to a total of 159 scientific journal articles, comprising 242 sites with 1379 paired soil layer observations from 601 paired soil profiles.

opencc-zeroJun 2024View details →

Disturbance amplifies sensitivity of dryland productivity to precipitation variability

Variability of the terrestrial global carbon sink is largely determined by the response of dryland productivity to annual precipitation. Despite extensive disturbance in drylands, how disturbance alters productivity-precipitation relationships remains poorly understood. Using remote-sensing to pair over 5600 km of natural gas pipeline corridors with neighboring undisturbed areas in North American drylands, we found that disturbance reduced average annual production 6-29% and caused up to a five-fold increase in the sensitivity of net primary productivity (NPP) to interannual variation in precipitation. Disturbance impacts were larger and longer-lasting at locations with higher precipitation (>450 mm mean annual precipitation). Disturbance effects on NPP dynamics were mostly explained by shifts from woody to herbaceous vegetation. Severe disturbance will amplify effects of increasing precipitation variability on NPP in drylands.

opencc-by-4.0Jan 2023View details →

Table 2 in Clonal mechanisms that matter in Agave fourcroydes and A. sisalana invasions in drylands: implications for their management

Table 2. Standardized coefficients of the best-fitting Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) explaining bulbil rooting success under the monitored conditions (natural conditions, and experimental plots). Three predictor variable types were considered (intrinsic mother plant and bulbil traits, and extrinsic bulbil traits). Species identity and plots were included as random factors. The best model was ranked according to AIC (Akaike Information Criterion) value (See also Table S5). Non-data cells indicate variables not included in a particular model.<table><tbody><tr><th></th><th>Intrinsic mother plant Extrinsic bulbil Extrinsic bulbil</th><th>Random factor</th></tr></tbody><tbody><tr><th>Sets of bulbils data</th><td>Intercept</td><td>traits Rosette Scape diameter height</td><td>traits Height</td><td>traits Position Buried</td><td>significance Species Plot identity</td></tr><tr><th>Monitored under natural conditions</th><td>0.936***</td><td>−0.064</td><td>0.034</td><td></td><td>0.799***</td><td>ns</td><td></td></tr><tr><th>Greenhouse plots</th><td>−3.805***</td><td></td><td></td><td>0.835***</td><td>3.427***</td><td>ns</td><td>ns</td></tr><tr><th>Natural conditions plots</th><td>−0.481***</td><td>0.124</td><td></td><td></td><td>1.897***</td><td>ns</td><td>ns</td></tr></tbody></table>Significance: *** p-values <0.001. ns: no significance

opencc-by-4.0Jan 2023View details →

Table 1 in Clonal mechanisms that matter in Agave fourcroydes and A. sisalana invasions in drylands: implications for their management

Table 1. Sampling goals, work stages and summary of data collected.<table><tbody><tr><th>Sampling goal</th><th>Phenology of flowering and bulbils and production of basal shoots</th><th>Estimation of bulbil production*</th><th>Estimation of shoot production from rhizomes</th><th>Estimation of rooting rates of bulbils under natural conditions</th><th>Estimation of the rooting rates of bulbils in experimental plots (greenhouse and natural conditions)*</th><th>Phenology of shoots production and rate of establishment of new individuals (rooted bulbils vs shoots from rhizomes)</th></tr></tbody><tbody><tr><th>Sampling unit</th><td>60 individuals (30 from Agave fourcroydes and 30 from | A. sisalana)</td><td>60 individuals (30 from Agave fourcroydes and 30 from A. sisalana)</td><td>8 individuals (4 from Agave fourcroydes, 4 from A. sisalana)</td><td>1,184 bulbils (582 from Agave fourcroydes, 602 from A. sisalana; 590 from early fall, 594 from late fall)</td><td>1,440 bulbils, 24 from each of 60 individuals (30 from Agave fourcroydes, and 30 from A. sisalana)</td><td>10 plots 10 × 10 m</td></tr><tr><th>Monitored individual nature</th><td>Reproductive individuals with incipient floral scapes emerging from the rosette</td><td>Reproductive individuals with floral scapes at the stage of maximum bulbils production</td><td>Juvenile, i.e., prominent but not reproductive individuals</td><td>Mature bulbils fallen from the floral scapes</td><td>Mature bulbils fallen from the floral scapes</td><td>New young individuals</td></tr><tr><th>Traits measured</th><td>Height and</td><td>Height and</td><td>Number of</td><td>Height (cm)</td><td>Height (cm)</td><td>Origin: from</td></tr><tr><td>diameter of the rosette (cm) Height and</td><td>diameter of the rosette (cm) Height and</td><td>rhizomes Number of emerged shoots</td><td>Diameter (cm) Number of leaves</td><td>Diameter (cm) Number of leaves</td><td>rhizomes or rooted bulbils Presence of</td></tr><tr><td>diameter of the floral scape (cm)</td><td>diameter of the floral scape (cm)</td><td>from rhizomes</td><td>Number of preformed roots</td><td>Number of preformed roots</td><td>contractile roots</td></tr><tr><td>Number of scape branches</td><td>Number of bulbils by scape branches</td><td></td><td>Position (vertical or horizontal)</td><td>Rooted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>% of branches with floral buds</td><td>Number of fallen bulbils</td><td></td><td>Buried or not</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>% of branches with flowers</td><td></td><td></td><td>Rooted</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><th>% of branches with bulbils</th></tr><tr><th>% of branches with fruits</th></tr><tr><th>% of branches with fallen bulbils</th></tr><tr><th>Number of basal shoots (born directly from the rosette)</th></tr><tr><th>Monitoring dates and frequency</th><td>February 2015– May 2016 (monthly)</td><td>October 2015</td><td>May–July 2015</td><td>October 2015– October 2016 (monthly)</td><td>January 2016– May 2016</td><td>February 2015– February 2016 (monthly)</td></tr></tbody></table>* The individuals selected for these two studies were the same.

openother-openJul 2021View details →

Data and Code for: Drivers of seedling establishment success in dryland restoration efforts

Code and Raw data for: Drivers of seedling establishment success in dryland restoration efforts Restoration of degraded drylands is urgently needed to mitigate climate change, reverse desertification, and secure livelihoods for the two billion people who live in these areas. Bold global targets have been set for dryland restoration to restore millions of hectares of degraded land. These targets have been questioned as overly ambitious, but without a global evaluation of successes and failures, it is impossible to gauge feasibility. Here, we examine restoration seeding outcomes across 174 sites on six continents, encompassing 594,065 observations of 671 plant species. Our findings suggest reason for optimism. Seeding had a positive impact on species presence: in almost a third of all treatments, 100% of species seeded were growing at first monitoring. However, dryland restoration is risky: 17% of projects failed, with no establishment of any seeded species, and consistent declines were found in seeded species as projects matured. Across projects, higher seeding rates and larger seed sizes resulted in a greater probability of recruitment, with further influences of site aridity, taxonomic identity, and species lifeform on species success. Our findings suggest that investigations examining these predictive factors will yield more effective and informed restoration decision-making.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

Global dryland vegetation memory

1. Vegetation memory describes the effect of antecedent environmental and ecological conditions on the present ecosystem state and has been proposed as an important proxy for vegetation resilience. In particular, strong vegetation-memory effects have been identified in dryland regions, but the factors underlying the spatial patterns of vegetation memory remain unknown. 2. We aim to map the components and drivers of vegetation memory in dryland regions using state-of-the-art climate-reanalysis data and refined approaches to identify vegetation-memory characteristics across dryland regions worldwide. 3. Using a framework which distinguishes between intrinsic and extrinsic ecological memory, we show that: (i) intrinsic memory is a much stronger component than extrinsic memory in the majority of dryland regions; and (ii) climate reanalysis data sets change the detection of extrinsic vegetation memory effects in some global dryland regions. 4. Synthesis. Our study offers a global picture of the vegetation response to two climate forcing variables using satellite data, information which is potentially relevant for mapping components and properties of vegetation responses worldwide. However, the large differences in the spatial patterns in intrinsic vegetation memory in our study compared to previous analyses show the overall sensitivity of this component in particular to the initial choice of extrinsic forcing variables. As a result, we caution against using the oversimplified link between intrinsic vegetation-memory and vegetation recovery rates at large spatial scales.

opencc-zeroSep 2021View details →

Extreme drought reduces climatic disequilibrium in dryland plant communities

High rates of climate change are currently exceeding many plant species' capacity to keep up with climate, leading to mismatches between climatic conditions and climatic preferences of the species present in a community. This disequilibrium between climate and community composition could diminish, however, when critical climate thresholds are exceeded, due to population declines or losses among the more mismatched species. Here, we assessed the effect of an extreme drought event on rich semiarid shrubland communities in the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Using a community climate framework, we compared the community climatic disequilibrium before and after the drought episode on three study sites with different levels of precipitation. Disequilibrium was estimated as the difference between observed reference climate and community-inferred climate, calculated as the mean climatic optimum for the species present, weighted by their abundances. We found that extreme drought embedded within a decadal trend of increasing aridity led to a significant reduction in community climatic disequilibrium, and that this reduction was positively related to water deficit (low P/PET values). In contrast, microhabitat variables such as vegetation cover or slope, did not emerge as significant predictors of changes in community climatic disequilibrium. Our study highlights that extreme drought events pushing communities in the same direction as climate trends may decrease community climatic mismatch, leading to communities more adapted to aridity through loss of drought-sensitive species. These findings underscore that extreme events will play a crucial role in speeding up climate-induced community transformations and biodiversity losses.

opencc-zeroNov 2022View details →

Data from: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities shaped by host-plant affect the outcome of plant-soil feedback in dryland restoration

1. Plant inoculation with Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be a useful tool to overcome challenges in dry forest restoration. However, advances are still needed to guide choices regarding soil origin and inoculum production methods, since outcomes can vary due to plant-soil feedbacks (PSF). We evaluate how soil origin and host plant used for inoculum production affect AMF community and therefore the plant biomass accumulation and functional traits. 2. In the conditioning phase, we investigated whether soils originating from a recovered area (Quarry) and a vegetation fragment (Caatinga) would have their AMF communities modified due to the growth of Sorghum bicolor (used for inoculum production) and Senna uniflora (used in Brazilian semiarid restoration). In the feedback phase, we compared the performance of four plants species growing on a degraded soil and inoculated or not by a mixture of AMF isolates in comparison to soil inoculum prepared from the conditioning phase. 3. The inoculum from Caatinga presented seven times more AMF species compared to that from the Quarry, which presented ruderal and stress tolerant species. The soil inoculum conditioned by S. uniflora, regardless of origin, presented greater evenness compared to the soil inoculum produced with S. bicolor and promoted 33% more plant biomass compared to the control without inoculation. Root colonization by AMF increased PSF and decreased plant investment in functional traits such as specific root length (SRL) and specific leaf area (SLA). 4. Our results demonstrate the importance of adopting strategies that preserve local adaptation of inoculants produced. The use of native plant for propagation of native AMF in the conditioning phase provided more positive responses for Mesosphaerum suaveolens and Rhaphiodon echinus than inoculated with introduced AMF isolates. This is probably due to the interaction of inoculated plants with responsive AMF present in the soil. 5. Synthesis and applications: Our study shows that conditioning field-collected soil with S. uniflora and using it for inoculation can be a simple technique to promote biomass accumulation for other native herbaceous species. This preserves the compatibility between the soil inoculum produced with native AMF and native plants, representing an important tool for restoration programs.

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

Dataset associated with the manuscript: Soil management legacy interacts with wheat genotype to determine access to organic N in a dryland system

Organic nutrient management through the application of compost and/or cover crops provides mineralizable sources of nutrients for plants while often building soil organic matter (SOM) and various aspects of soil health. Variability in nutrient acquisition strategies between crop genotypes may confer advantages under different soil health contexts and could be important for crop selection and breeding, but crop response under field conditions remains unexplored. We investigated the ability of different genotypes of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to access nitrogen (N) from newly added cover crop residues in two soils with contrasting levels of SOM and biological activity. We planted three previously characterized wheat genotypes in a long-term dryland compost amendment field trial: 1) Byrd (modern, deep roots, low exudation), 2) Cheyenne (historic, drought susceptible, intermediate exudation), and 3) Snowmass (modern, drought-susceptible, high exudation). 15N-labelled cover crop residue was added to each plot and traced into wheat tissue. In the low SOM soil, the high exudate genotype Snowmass and historic genotype Cheyenne took up the most residue-derived N (6.4-8.1 kg N ha-1) compared to the low-exudate genotype Byrd (4.4 kg N ha-1), suggesting a strong exudate effect in the more carbon-limited soil. However, the low-exudate, deep rooted genotype, Byrd, took up the most residue N in the high SOM soils (4.6 kg N ha-1 vs. 2.8 and 3.3 hg N ha-1 for Cheyenne and Snowmass, respectively), which indicated higher native N cycling activities and great importance of drought resistance. Enzyme activity, inorganic N, and microbial communities were not influenced by genotype, though did show strong effects of compost application legacy. Our results show that belowground allocation strategies that favor microbial stimulation may be less successful under water limitation, especially when high SOM can support mineralization of residue N without added investment in root inputs. Increased soil health through SOM-building management likely enhances nutrient cycling, and may better support root strategies that invest less in microbial stimulation in favor of other limiting resources.

ChinaCropSM 1km: a fine 1 km daily Soil Moisture dataset for dryland wheat and maize across China during 1993–2018

ChinaCropSM1km provides 1km gridded daily Soil Moisture for Crop drylands across China over 1993–2018, which contains four daily datasets separately by crop type and soil depth (crop-type soil-depth). This dataset is wheat0-10. *** The data file is in “.tif" format *** Spatial extent: wheat drylands across China *** Soil depth: 0-10cm *** Temporal Resolution: Daily *** Pixel size: 1000 m *** Projection information: GCS_WGS_1984 *** Filename convention: Year_DOY.tif *** Year: Values from 1993 to 2018