The role of nutrients in the variability of drought effects on grassland composition and productivity along land use gradients - a trait-based approach

Picture: The photograph shows an unmown meadow containing numerous large, grey, rectangular, open-topped containers for mesocosms containing grassland plants. The containers are under open semi-circular tunnel-shaped metal poles that can presumably be covered with foil. Shrubs and deciduous trees can be seen in the background.

Background

Land use and climate warming are two major aspects of global change that influence terrestrial ecosystems and shape biotic communities. However, our knowledge of the impact of the combination of drought stress and nutrient availability is very limited. In combination, drought and fertilisation could amplify or mitigate each other, affecting the productivity or species composition of grasslands. The main goal of the project is to improve our predictions for the consequences of global change on grasslands.

Goals

Therefore, we are working on the following questions in this project:

1. How do plant traits that are important for water use and drought resistance change with nutrient availability? How do different plant species or different resource use strategies differ from each other?

2. How does different nutrient availability affect growth and survival of total plants under drought stress?

3. What role do nutrients play in the resistance and resilience of grasslands along a land use gradient?

Methods

We unite in the project:

a greenhouse experiment in which we investigate the plasticity of drought resistance traits in response to different nutrient availability,

a ‘commongarden’ field experiment in which we quantify the combined effect of nutrients and drought on plant growth yield and condition

Analyses from a field experiment in the Biodiversity Exploratories (Rangeshift, 2009-2012, Bütof et al. 2012) in which rainfall was manipulated along land use gradients.

We combine the results of the experiments with vegetation data from the Biodiversity Exploratories to investigate the role of nutrients on drought stress effects, species composition and productivity along a land use gradient in grasslands.

Picture: The photograph shows a table in a greenhouse on which there are twenty-five long black tube-like containers in each of seventeen racks, filled with soil and containing various grassland plants. In all the containers are strip-like labels, each rack either yellow, blue, white or red in colour

In the greenhouse we investigate the effect of different nutrient availability on drought resistance traits of grassland species

In these mesocosms we study the effect of drought and nutrient availability on grassland species

Referenz

A. Bütof, L. R. von Riedmatten, C. F. Dormann, M. Scherer-Lorenzen, E. Welk, and H. Bruelheide. 2012. The responses of grassland plants to experimentally simulated climate change depend on land use and region. Global Change Biology 18:127–137

Publications

Nutrient effects on drought responses vary across common temperate grassland species

Die Auswirkungen von Nährstoffen auf Dürre-Reaktionen variieren in häufigen Graslandarten der gemäßigten Zone

Kiene C., Jung E.-Y, Engelbrecht B. M. J. (2023): Nutrient effects on drought responses vary across common temperate grassland species. Oecologia 202, 1–14. doi: 10.1007/s00442-023-05370-5

Comparative drought resistance of temperate grassland species: mechanisms, prediction and relation to species distribution across moisture gradients

Sun S. (2019): Comparative drought resistance of temperate grassland species: mechanisms, prediction and relation to species distribution across moisture gradients. Dissertation, University Bayreuth. doi: 10.15495/EPub_UBT_00004322

Datasets

Public Datasets

Drought responses of 13 common temperate grassland species under different nutrient conditions, common garden experiment in Bayreuth, 2018 /2019, used in: Nutrient effects on drought responses vary across common temperate grassland species

Kiene, Carola (2023): Drought responses of 13 common temperate grassland species under different nutrient conditions, common garden experiment in Bayreuth, 2018 /2019, used in: Nutrient effects on drought responses vary across common temperate grassland species. Version 5. Biodiversity Exploratories Information System. Dataset. https://www.bexis.uni-jena.de/ddm/data/Showdata/31468?version=5/ddm/data/Showdata/31468?version=5