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Altered rainfall patterns increase forb abundance and richness in native tallgrass prairie

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep20120· OSTI ID:1624816
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4]
  1. Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Dept. of Biology; DOE/OSTI
  2. Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Dept. of Biology
  3. Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Division of Biology
  4. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Graduate Degree Program in Ecology; Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Biology
Models predict that precipitation variability will increase with climate change. We used a 15-year precipitation manipulation experiment to determine if altering the timing and amount of growing season rainfall will impact plant community structure in annually burned, native tallgrass prairie. The altered precipitation treatment maintained the same total growing season precipitation as the ambient precipitation treatment, but received a rainfall regime of fewer, larger rain events, and longer intervals between events each growing season. Although this change in precipitation regime significantly lowered mean soil water content, overall this plant community was remarkably resistant to altered precipitation with species composition relatively stable over time. However, we found significantly higher forb cover and richness and slightly lower grass cover on average with altered precipitation, but the forb responses were manifest only after a ten-year lag period. Thus, although community structure in this grassland is relatively resistant to this type of altered precipitation regime, forb abundance in native tallgrass prairie may increase in a future characterized by increased growing season precipitation variability.
Research Organization:
Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation; USDA; USDOE
OSTI ID:
1624816
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 6; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (12)

DRI-Grass: A New Experimental Platform for Addressing Grassland Ecosystem Responses to Future Precipitation Scenarios in South-East Australia journal September 2016
A multi-year experiment shows that lower precipitation predictability encourages plants’ early life stages and enhances population viability journal January 2019
Effects of extreme changes in precipitation on the physiology of C4 grasses journal June 2018
Post-drought rewetting triggers substantial K release and shifts in leaf stoichiometry in managed and abandoned mountain grasslands journal January 2020
Priority effects are affected by precipitation variability and are stronger in exotic than native grassland species journal February 2018
Impact of rainfall frequency and intensity on inter- and intra-annual satellite-derived EVI vegetation productivity of an Acacia caven shrubland community in Central Chile journal August 2018
Climate and plant community diversity in space and time journal February 2020
Elevated CO2 and warming effects on grassland plant mortality are determined by the timing of rainfall journal February 2017
Whole plant community transplants across climates reveal structural community stability due to large shifts in species assemblage journal February 2019
Regional grassland productivity responses to precipitation during multiyear above- and below-average rainfall periods journal February 2018
Evaluating outcomes of restoration ecology projects on limited budgets: assessment of variation in sampling intensity and sampling frequency for four habitat types: Evaluating outcomes of restoration projects journal August 2018
Evaluating Landscape Degradation Along Climatic Gradients During the 1930s Dust Bowl Drought From Panchromatic Historical Aerial Photographs, United States Great Plains journal October 2018

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