| 1. |
- Barthelemy, Hélène, et al.
(författare)
-
Defoliation, soil grazing legacy, dung and moss cover influence growth and nutrient uptake of the common grass species, Festuca ovina
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Herbivores can strongly influence plant growth directly through defoliation and the return of nutrients in the form of dung and urine but also indirectly by reducing the abundance of neighbouring plants and inducing changes in soil processes. The relative importance of these driving mechanisms of plant response to herbivory are still poorly understood. In a common garden experiment, we studied the aboveground and belowground responses of Festuca ovina, a grazing tolerant grass common in arctic secondary grassland, to defoliation, reindeer dung addition, changes in soil microclimate induced by the presence or the absence of a moss cover, and soil grazing legacy. Defoliation strongly reduced shoot and root growth and plant nutrient uptake. Plants did thus not compensate for the tissue lost due to defoliation, even at a higher nutrient availability. By contrast, defoliation enhanced plant N concentration and decreased plant C to N ratio. Soil from heavily grazed sites and dung addition increased plant production, plant N concentrations and nutrient uptake, although the effects of dung addition were only small. Mosses had a strong negative effect of root biomass and reduced plant compensatory growth after defoliation. Interestingly mosses also had facilitative effects on aboveground plant growth in absence of defoliation and on plant nutrient uptake and N concentrations. Although plants suffered severely from defoliation, they were also strongly favoured by the increased nutrient availability associated with herbivory. After two years, plants produced as much biomass when all positive and negative effects of herbivores were considered (defoliation, soil communities and nutrient availability under heavily grazing, dung addition and no moss cover) as in the ungrazed conditions (no defoliation, soil communities and nutrient availability under lightly grazing, no dung addition, a thick moss cover). This study indicates that graminoids can tolerate high densities of herbivores, although it suffer from defoliation directly, and suggests that changes in plant quality following defoliation and grazing-induced changes in soil processes are two key mechanisms through which herbivores can control plant productivity in arctic secondary grasslands. Plant tolerance to herbivory will depends on how herbivores utilise a pasture area and on the balance between the positive and the negative effects of grazing on plant growth.
|
|
| 2. |
- Blume-Werry, Gesche, et al.
(författare)
-
Dwelling in the deep – permafrost thawing strongly increases plant root growth and root litter input
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Plant roots play a key role in ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling. Climate warming induced thawing of permafrost exposes large amounts of carbon and nitrogen at greater soil depths that hitherto have been detached from plant influences. Whether plant roots can reach and interact with these carbon and nitrogen sources upon permafrost thaw remains unknown. Here, we use a long-term permafrost thaw experiment and a short-term deep fertilization experiment in northern Sweden to assess changes in vegetation composition and root dynamics (deep nitrogen uptake, root depth distribution, root growth and phenology, root mortality and litter input) related to permafrost thaw, both in active layer and in newly thawed permafrost. We show that Eriophorum vaginatum and Rubus chamaemorus, both relatively deep-rooting species, can take up nitrogen released at depth of permafrost thaw, despite the late release time in autumn when plant activity is expected to have ceased. Also, root dynamics changed drastically after a decade of experimental permafrost thaw. Total root length, root growth and root litter input all strongly increased, not only in the active layer but also in the newly thawed permafrost, and the timing of root growth was related to the seasonality of soil thaw. These responses were driven by Eriophorum vaginatum, which differed greatly in root dynamics compared to the other species and thus worked as an ecosystem engineer. This study demonstrates that soil organic matter currently locked-up at depth in permafrost is no longer detached from plant processes upon thaw. Given the pivotal role that roots have in the carbon cycle and the importance of the large carbon stocks in arctic soils, the changes observed here have the potential to feedback onto the global climate system.
|
|
| 3. |
- Krab, Eveline J., et al.
(författare)
-
Microbial and soil fauna diversity responses to winter climate change and greening in cryoturbated arctic tundra
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- At high latitudes, winter warming facilitates vegetation expansion into barren frost-affected soils. The interplay of changes in winter climate and plant presence may alter soil carbon dynamics via effects on decomposers. Responses of decomposer soil fauna and microorganisms to such changes likely differ from each other, since their life histories, dispersal mechanisms and microhabitats vary greatly. We investigated the relative impacts of short-term winter warming and long-term increases in plant cover on bacteria and collembola community composition in cryoturbated, non-sorted circle (NSC) tundra. By covering NSCs with insulating gardening fiber cloth (fleeces) or using stone walls accumulating snow, we imposed two climate-change scenarios: snow accumulation increased autumn-to-late winter soil temperatures by 1.4°C, while fleeces warmed soils during that period by 1°C and increased spring temperatures by 1.1°C. Summer bacteria and collembola communities were sampled from within-circle locations differing in vegetation abundance and soil properties, representing stages in long-term NSC overgrowth. Two years of winter warming had no effects on both decomposer communities. Instead, their community compositions were strongly determined by sampling location: communities in barren circle centers were distinct from those in vegetated outer rims, while communities in sparsely vegetated patches of circle centers were intermediate. Diversity patterns indicate that collembola communities are tightly linked to plant presence while bacteria communities correlated with soil properties. Our results thus suggest that short-term effects of winter warming are likely to be minimal, but longer-term vegetation overgrowth of NSCs affects decomposer community composition substantially. At decadal timescales, collembola community changes may follow rapidly after plant establishment into barren areas, whereas bacteria communities may take longer to respond. If shifts in decomposer community composition are indicative for changes in their decomposition activity, vegetation overgrowth will likely have much stronger effects on carbon losses from frost-affected tundra than short-term winter warming.
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
- Monteux, Sylvain, et al.
(författare)
-
Permafrost peatland plant rhizobiome : limited effects of plant presence in Sphagnum peat contrast with strong, species-specific effects in newly-thawed permafrost
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Sphagnum peatlands in the permafrost region store large amounts of carbon. Changes in plant communities or increasing CO2 concentrations may alter rhizodeposition and in turn soil carbon cycling, yet the response of rhizosphere processes to climate change is insufficiently understood. Microbial communities in the rhizosphere – the rhizobiome – may be important in determining the rates of such processes, and often depend on both soil types and plant species. Sphagnum peat is very acidic and contains numerous secondary metabolites, which may override rhizodeposits effects on the rhizobiome, while newly-thawed, but more decomposed permafrost peat layers may be more favourable to the formation of a distinct rhizobiome. These two soil types may thus have different sensitivities to plant community-driven shifts in microbial communities. However, plant species effects on the bacterial rhizobiome have never been investigated in Sphagnum peat and in newly-thawed permafrost.We grew five vascular peatland plant species, abundant across the circum-arctic and encompassing different plant functional and mycorrhizal types, in Sphagnum peat or in newly-thawed permafrost peat, and compared their bacterial rhizobiome to communities in non-planted controls. The rhizobiome of three plant species out of five was not distinct from non-planted Sphagnum peat, while only the rhizobiome of Andromeda polifolia and, to a lesser extent, Rubus chamaemorus were distinct. In contrast, in newly-thawed permafrost soil, all five plant species had a rhizobiome distinct from non-planted controls, and also exhibited plant species-specific differences. While the differences between rhizosphere and non-planted newly-thawed permafrost soil were overall similar between plant species at the phylum-level, many of the OTUs that differed were specific to a single plant species, particularly so for B. nana and E. vaginatum. The small or absence of differences between the rhizobiomes and Sphagnum peat for most plant species is likely due to acidity and Sphagnum secondary metabolites. Changes in aboveground vegetation may therefore not affect soil processes in Sphagnum peat through altered bacterial communities. In contrast, the strong and plant species-specific effects on the rhizobiome in newly-thawed permafrost soil is due to either less constraining conditions or because permafrost bacterial communities are more vulnerable to rhizosphere effects. Deep-rooting plants can colonize newly-thawed permafrost, and even shallow-rooting species can do so after soil mixing events that bring thawed permafrost to the surface. Therefore, different bacterial communities can be expected depending on permafrost thaw scenario and existing plant community. Plant roots of different species may thus differ in their effects on carbon and nutrient cycling in newly-thawed permafrost not only through differing rhizodeposits but also through species-specific rhizobiomes.
|
|
