Decoupled responses of tree and shrub leaf and litter trait values to ecosystem retrogression across an island area gradient
Tóm tắt
In the long term absence of catastrophic disturbance ecosystem retrogression occurs, and this is characterized by reduced soil fertility, and impairment of plant biomass and productivity. The response of plant traits to retrogression remains little explored. We investigated how changes plant traits and litter decomposability shift during retrogression for dominant trees and understory shrubs. We characterized changes in intraspecific, interspecific and community-averaged values of plant traits and litter decomposability, for six abundant species across thirty lake islands in boreal forest that undergo retrogression with increasing time since fire. For understory shrubs, trait values and litter decomposability often changed as soil fertility declined in a manner reflective of greater conservation (versus acquisition) of nutrients, particularly at the interspecific and whole community levels. Such responses were seldom observed for trees, meaning that trees and shrubs show a decoupled response to declining soil fertility during retrogression. Our results only partially agree with previous studies on temperate and subtropical retrogressive chronosequences. Because traits of only shrubs were responsive, they also highlight that impairment of belowground ecosystem processes during retrogression is primarily driven by changes in the trait spectra of understory vegetation rather than that of the trees.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Aerts R, Chapin FS (2000) The mineral nutrition of wild plants revisited; a re-evaluation of processes and patterns. Adv Ecol Res 30:1–67
Albert CH, Thuiller W, Yoccoz NG, Soudant A, Boucher F, Saccone P, Lavorel S (2010) Intraspecific functional variability: extent, structure and sources of variation. J Ecol 98:604–613
Cordell S, Goldstein G, Meinzer FC, Vitousek PM (2001) Regulation of leaf life-span and nutrient-use efficiency of Metrosideros polymorpha in N and P limited Hawaiian forests. Oecologia 127:198–206
Cornelissen JHC, Dies PC, Hunt R (1996) Seedling growth, allocation and leaf attributes in a wide range of woody plants and types. J Ecol 84:755–765
Cornwell WK, Cornelissen JHC, Amatangelo K, Dorrepaal E, Eviner VT, Godoy O, Hobbie SE, Hoorens B, Kurokawa H, Pérez-Harguindeguy N et al (2008) Plant species traits are the predominant control of litter decomposition rates within biomes worldwide. Ecol Lett 11:1065–1071
Cortez J, Garnier E, Pérez-Harguindeguy N, Debussche M, Gillon D (2007) Plant traits, litter quality and decomposition in a Mediterranean old-field succession. Plant Soil 296:19–34
Crews TE, Kitayama K, Fownes JH, Riley RH, Herbert DA, Mueller-Dombois D, Vitousek PM (1995) Changes in soil phosphorus fractions and ecosystem dynamics across a long chronosequence in Hawaii. Ecology 76:1407–1424
Crutsinger G, Sanders NJ, Albrectsen B, Abreu I, Wardle DA (2008) Ecosystem retrogression leads to increased insect abundance and herbivory across an island chronosequence. Funct Ecol 22:816–823
Dearden FM, Dehlin H, Wardle DA, Nilsson M-C (2006) Changes in the ratio of twig to foliage in litterfall and consequences for decomposition across a long-term fire-induced chronosequence. Oikos 115:453–462
Díaz S, Thompson K, Cabido M, Cornelissen JHC, Jalili A, Montserrat-Marti G, Grime JP, Zarrinkamar F, Asri Y et al (2004) The plant traits that drive ecosystems: evidence from three continents. J Veg Sci 15:295–304
Doblas-Miranda E, Wardle DA, Peltzer DA, Yeates GW (2008) Changes in the community structure and diversity of soil invertebrates across the Franz Josef Glacier chronosequence. Soil Biol Biochem 40:1069–1081
Farjado A, Piper FI (2011) Interspecific trait variation and covariation in a widespread tree species (Nothofagus pumilio) in southern Chile. New Phytol 189:259–271
Flannigan MD, Van Wagner CE (1991) Climate change and wildfire in Canada. Can J For Res 21:66–72
Fortunel C, Garnier E, Jofre R, Kazakou E, Quested H, Grigulis K, Lavorel S et al (2009) Leaf traits capture the effects of land use changes and climate on litter decomposability of grasslands across Europe. Ecology 90:598–611
Garnier E, Lavorel S, Ansquer P, Castro H, Cruz P, Dolezal J, Eriksson O et al (2007) Assessing the effects of land-use change on plant traits, communities and ecosystem functioning in grasslands: A standardized methodology and lessons from an application to 11 European sites. Ann Bot 99:967–985
Grime JP (1979) Plant strategies and vegetation processes. Wiley, Chichester
Grime JP (2001) Plant strategies, vegetation processes and ecosystem processes. Wiley, Chichester
Gruner DS (2007) Geological age, ecosystem development, and local resource constraints on arthropod community structure in the Hawaiian Islands. Biol J Linn Soc 90:551–570
Gundale MJ, Fajardo A, Lucas R W, Nilsson M-C, Wardle D A (2011) Resource heterogeneity does not explain the productivity-diversity relationship across a boreal island fertility gradient. Ecography 34:887–896
He J-S, Wang X, Schmid B, Flynn DFB, Li X, Reich PB, Fang J (2010) Taxonomic identity, phylogeny, climate and soil fertility as drivers of leaf traits across Chinese grassland biomes. J Plant Res 123:551–561
Hurtt GC, Pacala SW, Moorcroft PR, Caspersen J, Shevliakova E, Houghton RA, Moore B (2002) Projecting the future of the US carbon sink. P Nat Acad Sci USA 99:1389–94
Jonsson M, Wardle DA (2008) Context dependency of litter-mixing effects on decomposition and nutrient release across a long-term chronosequence. Oikos 117:1674–1682
Jonsson M, Wardle DA (2010) Structural equation modelling reveals plant-community drivers of carbon storage in boreal forest ecosystems. Biol Lett 6:116–119
Killingbeck KT (1996) Nutrients in senesced leaves: keys to the search for potential resorption and resorption proficiency. Ecology 77:1716–1727
Lagerström A, Esberg C, Wardle DA, Giesler R (2009) Soil phosphorus and microbial response to a long-term wildfire chronosequence in northern Sweden. Biogeochem 95:199–231
Lambers H, Raven JA, Shaver G, Smith SE (2008) Plant nutrient acquisition strategies change with soil age. Trends Ecol Evol 23:95–103
Mason NWH, Peltzer DA, Richardson SJ, Bellingham PJ, Allen RB (2010) Stand development moderates effects of ungulate exclusion on foliar traits in the forests of New Zealand. J Ecol 98:1422–1433
Mason NHW, Carswell FE, Richardson SJ, Burrows LE (2011) Leaf palatability and decomposability increase during a 200-year post-cultural woody succession in New Zealand. J Veg Sci 22:6–17
Nilsson M-C (1994) Separation of allelopathy and resource competition by the boreal dwarf shrub Empetrum hermaphroditum Hagerup. Oecologia 98:1–7
Nilsson M-C, Wardle DA (2005) Understory vegetation as a forest ecosystem driver: evidence from the northern Swedish boreal forest. Frontiers Ecol Environ 3:421–428
Nilsson M-C, Högberg P, Zackrosson O, Wang FY (1993) Allelopathic effects by Empetrum hermaphroditum Hagerup on development and nitrogen uptake by roots and mycorrhizas of Pinus sylvestris. Can J Bot 71:620–628
Northup RR, Zeng SY, Dahlgren R, Vogt K (1995) Polyphenols control of nitrogen release from pine litter. Nature 377:227–229
Odum EP (1969) Strategy of ecosystem development. Science 164:162–170
Ordonez JC, van Bodegom PM, Witte JPM, Wright IJ, Reich PB, Aerts R (2009) A global study of relationships between leaf traits, climate and soil measures of nutrient fertility. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 18:137–149
Peltzer DA, Wardle DA, Allison VJ, Baisden WT, Bardgett RD, Chadwick OA, Condron LM et al (2010) Understanding ecosystem retrogression. Ecol Monogr 80:509–529
Quested H, Eriksson O, Fortunel C, Garnier E (2007) Plant traits relate to whole-community litter quality and decomposition following land use change. Funct Ecol 21:1016–1026
Richardson SJ, Peltzer DA, Allen RB, McGlone MS, Parfitt RL (2004) Rapid development of phosphorus limitation in temperate rainforest along the Franz Josef soil chronosequence. Oecologia 139:267–276
Richardson SJ, Peltzer DA, Allen RB, McGlone MS (2005) Resorption proficiency along a chronosequence: responses among communities and within species. Ecology 86:20–25
Selmants PC, Hart SC (2008) Substrate age and tree islands influence carbon and nitrogen dynamics across a retrogressive semiarid chronosequence. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 22:GB1021
Vitousek PM (1998) Foliar and litter nutrients, nutrient resorption, and decomposition in Hawaiian Metrosideros polymorpha. Ecosyst 1:401–407
Vitousek PM (2004) Nutrient cycling and limitation: Hawai‛i as a model system. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Vitousek PM, Farrington H (1997) Nutrient limitation and soil development: experimental test of a biogeochemical theory. Biogeochemistry 37:63–75
Vitousek PM, Turner DR, Kitayama K (1995) Foliar nutrients during long-term soil development in Hawaiian montane rain forest. Ecology 76:716–720
Walker LR, del Moral R (2003) Primary succession and ecosystem rehabilitation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Walker TW, Syers JK (1976) The fate of P during pedogenesis. Geoderma 15:1–19
Walker J, Thompson CH, Reddell P, Rapport DJ (2001) The importance of landscape age in influencing landscape health. Ecosyst Health 7:7–14
Wardle DA (2002) Communities and ecosystems: linking the aboveground and belowground components. Princeton University Press, Princeton USA
Wardle DA, Zackrisson O (2005) Effects of species and functional group loss on island ecosystem properties. Nature 435:806–810
Wardle DA, Zackrisson O, Hörnberg G, Gallet C (1997) The influence of island area on ecosystem properties. Science 277:1296–1299
Wardle DA, Hörnberg G, Zackrisson O, Kalela-Brundin M, Coomes DA (2003) Long term effects of wildfire on ecosystem properties across an island area gradient. Science 300:972–975
Wardle DA, Walker LR, Bardgett RD (2004) Ecosystem properties and forest decline in contrasting long-term chronosequences. Science 305:509–513
Wardle DA, Lagerström A, Nilsson M-C (2008) Context dependent effects of plant species and functional group loss on vegetation invasibility across an island area gradient. J Ecol 96:1174–1186
Wardle DA, Bardgett RD, Walker LR, Bonner KI (2009) Among- and within-species variation in plant litter decomposition in contrasting long term chronosequences. Funct Ecol 23:442–453
Wardle DA, Jonsson M, Bansal S, Bardgett RD, Gundale MJ, Metcalfe DB (2012) Linking vegetation change, carbon sequestration and biodiversity: insights from island ecosystems in a long term natural experiment. J Ecol 100:16–30
Whitehead D, Boelman NT, Turnbull MH, Griffin KL, Tissue DT, Barbour MM, Hunt JE, Richardson SJ, Peltzer DA (2005) Photosynthesis and reflectance indices for rainforest species in ecosystems undergoing progression and retrogression along a soil fertility chronosequence in New Zealand. Oecologia 144:233–244
Williamson WM, Wardle DA, Yeates GW (2005) Changes in soil microbial and nematode communities during ecosystem retrogression across a long term chronosequence. Soil Biol Biochem 37:1289–1301
Wright IJ, Reich PB, Westoby M, Ackerly DD, Baruch Z, Bongers F, Cavender-Bares J et al (2004) The worldwide leaf economics spectrum. Nature 428:821–827