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Abstract Climate variability and periodic droughts have complex effects on carbon (C) fluxes, with uncertain implications for ecosystem C balance under a changing climate. Responses to climate change can be modulated by persistent effects of climate history on plant communities, soil microbial activity, and nutrient cycling (i.e., legacies). To assess how legacies of past precipitation regimes influence tallgrass prairie C cycling under new precipitation regimes, we modified a long‐term irrigation experiment that simulated a wetter climate for >25 years. We reversed irrigated and control (ambient precipitation) treatments in some plots and imposed an experimental drought in plots with a history of irrigation or ambient precipitation to assess how climate legacies affect aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), soil respiration, and selected soil C pools. Legacy effects of elevated precipitation (irrigation) included higher C fluxes and altered labile soil C pools, and in some cases altered sensitivity to new climate treatments. Indeed, decades of irrigation reduced the sensitivity of both ANPP and soil respiration to drought compared with controls. Positive legacy effects of irrigation on ANPP persisted for at least 3 years following treatment reversal, were apparent in both wet and dry years, and were associated with altered plant functional composition. In contrast, legacy effects on soil respiration were comparatively short‐lived and did not manifest under natural or experimentally‐imposed “wet years,” suggesting that legacy effects on CO2efflux are contingent on current conditions. Although total soil C remained similar across treatments, long‐term irrigation increased labile soil C and the sensitivity of microbial biomass C to drought. Importantly, the magnitude of legacy effects for all response variables varied with topography, suggesting that landscape can modulate the strength and direction of climate legacies. Our results demonstrate the role of climate history as an important determinant of terrestrial C cycling responses to future climate changes.
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Climate Legacy Effects Shape Tallgrass Prairie Nitrogen Cycling
Abstract Climate change is expected to shift precipitation regimes in the North American Central Plains with likely impacts on ecosystem functioning. In tallgrass prairies, water and nitrogen (N) can co‐limit ecosystem processes, so changes in precipitation may have complex effects on carbon (C) and N cycling. Rates of N supply such as N mineralization and nitrification respond differently to short‐ and long‐term patterns in water availability, and previous climate patterns may exert legacy effects on current N cycling that could alter ecosystem sensitivity to current precipitation regimes. We used a long‐term precipitation manipulation at Konza Prairie (Kansas, USA) to assess how previous and current precipitation influence tallgrass prairie N cycling. Supplemental irrigation was applied across upland and lowland prairie for ∼25 years to reduce water deficits; in 2017, we reversed some of these treatments and added a reduced rainfall treatment across both historic rainfall regimes, allowing us to assess how previous climate and current rainfall patterns interact to shape N cycling. In lowland prairie, previous irrigation doubled N mineralization and nitrification rates the year following cessation of irrigation. Reduced microbial C:N ratio and lower relative investment in N‐acquiring enzymes in previously irrigated lowlands suggested that a wetter climate created a legacy of increased N availability for microbes. Internal plant N resorption increased under short‐term irrigation but recovered to ambient levels following previous irrigation. Together, these results suggest that a history of wetter conditions can create a legacy of accelerated N cycling, with consequences for both plant and microbial functioning.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2025849
- PAR ID:
- 10377391
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
- Volume:
- 127
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 2169-8953
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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