Spatio-temporal differences in leaf physiology are associated with fire, not drought, in a clonally integrated shrub

Wedel, Emily R.; O’Keefe, Kimberly; Nippert, Jesse B.; Hoch, Braden; O’Connor, Rory C.; Mitchell, ed., Patrick

doi:10.1093/aobpla/plab037

Title: Spatio-temporal differences in leaf physiology are associated with fire, not drought, in a clonally integrated shrub

Journal Article · Wed Jun 09 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · AoB Plants

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plab037· OSTI ID:1810594

Wedel, Emily R. ^[1]; O’Keefe, Kimberly ^[2]; Nippert, Jesse B. ^[1]; Hoch, Braden ^[3]; O’Connor, Rory C. ^[4]; Mitchell, ed., Patrick

Division of Biology, Kansas State University, 116 Ackert Hall, Manhattan, KS 66502, USA
Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Plant Protection and Weed Control Program, Kansas Department of Agriculture, Manhattan, KS 66502, USA
USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, 67826-A Hwy 205, Burns, OR 97720, USA

In highly disturbed environments, clonality facilitates plant survival via resprouting after disturbance, resource sharing among interconnected stems and vegetative reproduction. These traits likely contribute to the encroachment of deep-rooted clonal shrubs in tallgrass prairie. Clonal shrubs have access to deep soil water and are typically thought of as relatively insensitive to environmental variability. However, how leaf physiological traits differ among stems within individual clonal shrubs (hereafter ‘intra-clonal’) in response to extreme environmental variation (i.e. drought or fire) is unclear. Accounting for intra-clonal differences among stems in response to disturbance is needed to more accurately parameterize models that predict the effects of shrub encroachment on ecosystem processes. We assessed intra-clonal leaf-level physiology of the most dominant encroaching shrub in Kansas tallgrass prairie, Cornus drummondii, in response to precipitation and fire. We compared leaf gas exchange rates from the periphery to centre within shrub clones during a wet (2015) and extremely dry (2018) year. We also compared leaf physiology between recently burned shrubs (resprouts) with unburned shrubs in 2018. Resprouts had higher gas exchange rates and leaf nitrogen content than unburned shrubs, suggesting increased rates of carbon gain can contribute to recovery after fire. In areas recently burned, resprouts had higher gas exchange rates in the centre of the shrub than the periphery. In unburned areas, leaf physiology remained constant across the growing season within clonal shrubs (2015 and 2018). Results suggest single measurements within a shrub are likely sufficient to parameterize models to understand the effects of shrub encroachment on ecosystem carbon and water cycles, but model parameterization may require additional complexity in the context of fire.

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Research Organization:: Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States); Kansas Dept. of Agriculture, Manhattan, KS (United States); US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), Burns, OR (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; Konza Prairie Long Term Ecological Research program

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0019037; DEB-1440484

OSTI ID:: 1810594

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1852774; OSTI ID: 2242432

Journal Information:: AoB Plants, Journal Name: AoB Plants Vol. 13 Journal Issue: 4; ISSN 2041-2851

Publisher:: Oxford University PressCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United Kingdom

Language:: English

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