Climatic changes are altering Earth's hydrological cycle, resulting in altered precipitation amounts, increased interannual variability of precipitation, and more frequent extreme precipitation events. These trends will likely continue into the future, having substantial impacts on net primary productivity (
In semiarid regions, vegetation constraints on plant growth responses to precipitation (
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10461158
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Ecology
- Volume:
- 100
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0012-9658
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract NPP ) and associated ecosystem services such as food production and carbon sequestration. Frequently, experimental manipulations of precipitation have linked altered precipitation regimes to changes inNPP . Yet, findings have been diverse and substantial uncertainty still surrounds generalities describing patterns of ecosystem sensitivity to altered precipitation. Additionally, we do not know whether previously observed correlations betweenNPP and precipitation remain accurate when precipitation changes become extreme. We synthesized results from 83 case studies of experimental precipitation manipulations in grasslands worldwide. We used meta‐analytical techniques to search for generalities and asymmetries of abovegroundNPP (ANPP ) and belowgroundNPP (BNPP ) responses to both the direction and magnitude of precipitation change. Sensitivity (i.e., productivity response standardized by the amount of precipitation change) ofBNPP was similar under precipitation additions and reductions, butANPP was more sensitive to precipitation additions than reductions; this was especially evident in drier ecosystems. Additionally, overall relationships between the magnitude of productivity responses and the magnitude of precipitation change were saturating in form. The saturating form of this relationship was likely driven byANPP responses to very extreme precipitation increases, although there were limited studies imposing extreme precipitation change, and there was considerable variation among experiments. This highlights the importance of incorporating gradients of manipulations, ranging from extreme drought to extreme precipitation increases into future climate change experiments. Additionally, policy and land management decisions related to global change scenarios should consider howANPP andBNPP responses may differ, and that ecosystem responses to extreme events might not be predicted from relationships found under moderate environmental changes. -
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Location Four Australian grasslands, including sites in arid Western Australia, semi‐arid Victoria, alpine Victoria and sub‐tropical Queensland.
Methods Using identical nutrient addition experiments, we use 6‐years of biomass, cover and species richness data to examine how rates of biomass production and native and exotic cover and richness are affected by growing season precipitation [proportion of yearly growing season precipitation (
GSP ) to long‐term meanGSP ] and nutrient (N, P, K and micronutrients) addition.Results Rates of grassland productivity strongly increased with increasing
GSP .GSP increased rates of native cover but not native or exotic richness, nor rates of exotic cover change. We detected no significantNPK effect on rates of grassland productivity, exotic cover or exotic richness change. In contrast,NPK addition decreased rates of native cover change and fertilized plots had significantly fewer native species. We did not detect a significant interaction betweenNPK andGSP .Conclusions Grassland productivity was more strongly predicted by variation in growing season precipitation than by nutrient addition, suggesting it will vary with future changes in rainfall. Response to nutrients, however, depend on species origin, suggesting that increasing soil nutrient availability due to anthropogenic activities is likely to lead to negative effects on native species richness and cover.
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Abstract Salt marshes suffered large‐scale degradation in recent decades. Extreme events such as hot and dry spells contributed significantly to this, and are predicted to increase not only in intensity, but also in frequency under future climate scenarios. Such repetitive extreme events may generate cumulative effects on ecosystem resilience. It is therefore important to elucidate how marsh vegetation responds to repetitive stress, and whether changes in key species interactions can modulate vegetation resilience.
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SIG ) proteins contribute to promoter specificity of the plastid‐encodedRNA polymerase during chloroplast genome transcription. All six members of theSIG family, that is,SIG 1–SIG 6, are nuclear‐encoded proteins targeted to chloroplasts. Sigma factor 2 (SIG 2) is a phytochrome‐regulated protein important for stoichiometric control of the expression of plastid‐ and nuclear‐encoded genes that impact plastid development and plant growth and development. AmongSIG factors,SIG 2 is required not only for transcription of chloroplast genes (i.e., anterograde signaling), but also impacts nuclear‐encoded, photosynthesis‐related, and light signaling‐related genes (i.e., retrograde signaling) in response to plastid functional status. AlthoughSIG 2 is involved in photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis, the molecular bases for its role in light signaling that impacts photomorphogenesis and aspects of photosynthesis have only recently begun to be investigated. Previously, we reported thatSIG 2 is necessary for phytochrome‐mediated photomorphogenesis specifically under red (R) and far‐red light, thereby suggesting a link between phytochromes and nuclear‐encodedSIG 2 in light signaling. To explore transcriptional roles ofSIG 2 in R‐dependent growth and development, we performedRNA sequencing analysis to compare gene expression insig2‐2 mutant and Col‐0 wild‐type seedlings at two developmental stages (1‐ and 7‐day). We identified a subset of misregulated genes involved in growth, hormonal cross talk, stress responses, and photosynthesis. To investigate the functional relevance of these gene expression analyses, we performed several comparative phenotyping tests. In these analyses, strongsig2 mutants showed insensitivity to bioactiveGA 3, high intracellular levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) indicative of a stress response, and specific defects in photosynthesis, including elevated levels of cyclic electron flow (CEF ) and nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ ). We demonstrated thatSIG 2 regulates a broader range of physiological responses at the molecular level than previously reported, with specific roles in red‐light‐mediated photomorphogenesis.
