More Like this

1. Drought suppresses soil predators and promotes root herbivores in mesic, but not in xeric grasslands

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900572116  

   Franco, André L. ; Gherardi, Laureano A. ; de Tomasel, Cecilia M. ; Andriuzzi, Walter S. ; Ankrom, Katharine E. ; Shaw, E. Ashley ; Bach, Elizabeth M. ; Sala, Osvaldo E. ; Wall, Diana H. ( June 2019 , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   Precipitation changes among years and locations along gradients of mean annual precipitation (MAP). The way those changes interact and affect populations of soil organisms from arid to moist environments remains unknown. Temporal and spatial changes in precipitation could lead to shifts in functional composition of soil communities that are involved in key aspects of ecosystem functioning such as ecosystem primary production and carbon cycling. We experimentally reduced and increased growing-season precipitation for 2 y in field plots at arid, semiarid, and mesic grasslands to investigate temporal and spatial precipitation controls on the abundance and community functional composition of soil nematodes, a hyper-abundant and functionally diverse metazoan in terrestrial ecosystems. We found that total nematode abundance decreased with greater growing-season precipitation following increases in the abundance of predaceous nematodes that consumed and limited the abundance of nematodes lower in the trophic structure, including root feeders. The magnitude of these nematode responses to temporal changes in precipitation increased along the spatial gradient of long-term MAP, and significant effects only occurred at the mesic site. Contrary to the temporal pattern, nematode abundance increased with greater long-term MAP along the spatial gradient from arid to mesic grasslands. The projected increase in the frequency of extreme dry years in mesic grasslands will therefore weaken predation pressure belowground and increase populations of root-feeding nematodes, potentially leading to higher levels of plant infestation and plant damage that would exacerbate the negative effect of drought on ecosystem primary production and C cycling. 

   more » « less
2. Root herbivory controls the effects of water availability on the partitioning between above‐ and below‐ground grass biomass

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13661  

   Franco, André_L_C ; Gherardi, Laureano_A ; de_Tomasel, Cecilia_M ; Andriuzzi, Walter_S ; Ankrom, Katharine_E ; Bach, Elizabeth_M ; Guan, Pingting ; Sala, Osvaldo_E ; Wall, Diana_H ; Holeski, ed., Liza ( August 2020 , Functional Ecology)

   The fraction of primary productivity allocated below‐ground accounts for a larger flow of carbon than above‐ground productivity in most grassland ecosystems. Here, we addressed the question of how root herbivory affects below‐ground allocation of a dominant shortgrass prairie grass in response to water availability. We predicted that high levels of root herbivory by nematodes, as seen under extreme drought in sub‐humid grasslands, would prevent the high allocation to root biomass normally expected in response to low water availability.

   We exposed blue gramaBouteloua gracilis, which accounts for most of the net primary productivity in the shortgrass steppe of the central and southern Great Plains, to three levels of water availability from extreme low to intermediate and extreme high crossed with a gradient of root­herbivore per cent abundance relative to the total nematode community in soil microcosms.

   As hypothesized, the effect of water availability on below‐ground biomass allocation was contingent on the proportion of root herbivores in the nematode community. The relationship between below‐ground biomass allocation and water availability was negative in the absence of root herbivory, but tended to reverse with increasing abundance of root feeders. Increasing abundance of root‐feeding nematodes prevented grasses from adjusting their allocation patterns towards root mass that would, in turn, increase water uptake under dry conditions. Therefore, below‐ground trophic interactions weakened plant responses and increased the negative effects of drought on plants.

   Our work suggests that plant responses to changes in precipitation result from complex interactions between the direct effect of precipitation and indirect effects through changes in the below‐ground trophic web. Such complex responses challenge current predictions of increasing plant biomass allocation below‐ground in water‐stressed grasslands, and deserve further investigation across ecosystems and in field conditions.

   A freePlain Language Summarycan be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

    

   more » « less
3. The effects of herbivore aggregations at water sources on savanna plants differ across soil and climate gradients

   https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2422  

   Titcomb, Georgia C. ; Amooni, Godfrey ; Mantas, John Naisikie ; Young, Hillary S. ( August 2021 , Ecological Applications)

   Water sources in arid and semiarid ecosystems support humans, wildlife, and domestic animals, forming nodes of activity that sculpt surrounding plant communities and impact critical grazing and soil systems. However, global aridification and changing surface water supply threaten to disrupt these water resources, with strong implications for conservation and management of these ecosystems. To understand how effects of herbivore aggregation at water impact plant communities across contexts, we measured herbivore activity, plant height, cover (trees, grasses, forbs, and bare ground), diversity, and composition at 17 paired water sources and matrix sites across a range of abiotic factors in a semiarid savanna in Kenya. The effects of proximity to surface water and herbivore aggregation on plant communities varied substantially depending on soil and rainfall. In arid areas with nutrient‐poor sandy soils, forb and tree cover were 50% lower at water sources compared to neighboring matrix sites, bare ground was 20% higher, species richness was 15% lower, and a single globally important grazing grass (Cynodon dactylon) dominated 60% of transects. However, in mesic areas with nutrient‐rich finely textured soils, species richness was 25% higher, despite a 40% increase in bare ground, concurrent with the decline of a dominant tall grass (Themeda triandra) and increase inC. dactylonand other grass species near water sources. Recent rainfall was important for grasses; cover was higher relative to matrix sites only during wet periods, a potential indication of compensatory grazing. These findings suggest that effects of herbivore aggregation on vegetation diversity and composition will vary in magnitude, and in some cases direction, depending on other factors at the site. Where moisture and nutrient resources are high and promote the dominance of few plant species, herbivore aggregations may maintain diversity by promoting grazing lawns and increasing nondominant species cover. However, in arid conditions and sites with low nutrient availability, diversity can be substantially reduced by these aggregations. Our results highlight the importance of considering abiotic conditions when managing for effects of herbivore aggregations near water. This will be particularly important for future managers in light of growing global aridification and surface water changes.

    

   more » « less
4. Trophic group specific responses of alpine nematode communities to 18 years of N addition and codominant plant removal

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06281-3  

   Shepherd, Rachel M. ; Brigham, Laurel M. ; de Mesquita, Clifton P. ; Gattoni, Kaitlin M. ; Gendron, Eli M. ; Hahn, Philip G. ; Schmidt, Steven K. ; Smith, Jane G. ; Suding, Katharine N. ; Porazinska, Dorota L. ( October 2023 , Plant and Soil)

   Background and Aims Human-driven nitrogen (N) deposition can alter soil biogeochemistry and plant communities, both critical to soil biota. However, understanding the relative impact of the relationship between nutrient resources and plants on soil communities has been hindered by a lack of experimental manipulations of both factors. We hypothesized that soil nematode communities would be structured predominantly by N addition via overall increased abundance, decreased diversity, and compositional shifts to dominance of r-selected bacterial-feeding nematodes. In contrast, we expected plant efects to be less evident and restricted to nematodes directly associated with plants. Methods We used a long-term (18-yrs) experiment in moist meadow alpine tundra involving N addition and codominant plant (nitrophilic Deschampsia cespitosa and nitrogen sensitive Geum rossii) removal. We characterized nematode communities via 18S rRNA metabarcoding and used soil biogeochemistry, plant, and microbial variables to determine factors shaping their communities. Results The N addition treatment increased overall nematode abundance, decreased diversity, and afected the composition of all nematode trophic groups. Overall, nematode communities shifted to dominance of bacterial feeding nematode taxa adapted to N-enriched environments. The likely drivers of this shift were increased soil nitrate and lower pH. The direct efects of codominant plants were more limited, with only changes in Geum rossii appearing to afect nematode responses. Conclusion Overall, nematode communities in N-limited alpine ecosystems are highly sensitive to increases in N availability, irrespective of the nature of N preferences of codominant plants. The resulting nematode community restructuring could signify future shifts in soil functioning throughout alpine landscapes. 

   more » « less
5. Nutrient addition increases grassland sensitivity to droughts

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2981  

   Bharath, Siddharth ; Borer, Elizabeth T. ; Biederman, Lori A. ; Blumenthal, Dana M. ; Fay, Philip A. ; Gherardi, Laureano A. ; Knops, Johannes M. H. ; Leakey, Andrew D. B. ; Yahdjian, Laura ; Seabloom, Eric W. ( February 2020 , Ecology)

   Grasslands worldwide are expected to experience an increase in extreme events such as drought, along with simultaneous increases in mineral nutrient inputs as a result of human industrial activities. These changes are likely to interact because elevated nutrient inputs may alter plant diversity and increase the sensitivity to droughts. Dividing a system’s sensitivity to drought into resistance to change during the drought and rate of recovery after the drought generates insights into different dimensions of the system’s resilience in the face of drought. Here, we examine the effects of experimental nutrient fertilization and the resulting diversity loss on the resistance to and recovery from severe regional droughts. We do this at 13 North American sites spanning gradients of aridity, five annual grasslands in California, and eight perennial grasslands in the Great Plains. We measured rate of resistance as the change in annual aboveground biomass (ANPP) per unit change in growing season precipitation as conditions declined from normal to drought. We measured recovery as the change in ANPP during the postdrought period and the return to normal precipitation. Resistance and recovery did not vary across the 400‐mm range of mean growing season precipitation spanned by our sites in the Great Plains. However, chronic nutrient fertilization in the Great Plains reduced drought resistance and increased drought recovery. In the California annual grasslands, arid sites had a greater recovery postdrought than mesic sites, and nutrient addition had no consistent effects on resistance or recovery. Across all study sites, we found that predrought species richness in natural grasslands was not consistently associated with rates of resistance to or recovery from the drought, in contrast to earlier findings from experimentally assembled grassland communities. Taken together, these results suggest that human‐induced eutrophication may destabilize grassland primary production, but the effects of this may vary across regions and flora, especially between perennial and annual‐dominated grasslands.

    

   more » « less