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

Jones, Sydney K.; Collins, Scott L.; Blair, John M.; Smith, Melinda D.; Knapp, Alan K.

doi:10.1038/srep20120

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

Journal Article · Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep20120· OSTI ID:1624816

Jones, Sydney K. ^[1]; Collins, Scott L. ^[1]; Blair, John M. ^[2]; Smith, Melinda D. ^[3]; Knapp, Alan K. ^[3]

Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Dept. of Biology
Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Division of Biology
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.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDA; National Science Foundation (NSF)

OSTI ID:: 1624816

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 6, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 37 works

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

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