Tag Archives: Drought

Drought differentially diminishes ecosystem production

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Sometimes, even the most carefully conceived experiment is thrown for a loop by Mother Nature.  Good scientists must embrace the unexpected.  Ellen Esch, David Lipson and Elsa Cleland set out to explore how plant communities responded to high, normal and low rainfall conditions.  The researchers set up rainfall manipulation plots that were covered with a clear plastic roof that would allow most light to pass through, but intercept all of the water.  They then reapplied the intercepted water, with each plot receiving either 50%, 100% or 150% of the fallen rain.  The plan was to simulate drought, normal and wet conditions. The natural world had other plans, however, as 2013-2016 were unusually dry years. Fortunately the researchers adjusted, by refocusing their question on how plant communities respond to severe drought  (50% of intercepted rainfall), moderate drought (100%) and normal rainfall (150%).

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Herbaceous plant community being irrigated (notice the rainbow). Credit: Ellen Esch.

Esch and her colleagues set up their experiment at the San Diego State University Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, which has a Mediterranean-type climate with mild, somewhat moist winters and hot dry summers.

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Exotic grasses (here showing recently senesced Bromus madritensis) dominated the herbaceous sites. Credit: Ellen Esch

They wanted to know how climatic variability brought about by climate change would influence plant phenology (the timing of periodic ecological events), specifically green-up date (when plants begin turning green) and senescence date (when they turn brown and curtail photosynthesis). They expected that the native species, primarily sage-type shrubs, would be more drought-resistant than the exotic herbaceous vegetation, which was dominated by brome grass.  Climate change is predicted to increase climatic variability, which should increase the frequency and intensity of severe droughts (and also of unusually wet years).

An important measure of ecosystem functioning is its productivity – the amount of carbon taken up by an ecosystem, usually by photosynthesis.  More productive ecosystems have more energy available to feed consumers and decomposers.  More productive ecosystems also take up and store more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which can help reduce climate change. The researchers used a reflectance radiometer to calculate the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which essentially calculates how green an area is, and is a good measure of productivity.  Esch and her colleagues hypothesized that drought would reduce overall ecosystem NDVI, but that native vegetation would be more buffered against the negative effects of drought than would the invasive exotic vegetation.

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A student from a plant physiology class at San Diego State University measures NDVI. Credit: David Lipson

Each year from 2013 – 2016, the researchers set up 30 3X3 meter plots; 15 plots were dominated by exotic herbaceous species such as brome, and 15 plots had mostly native shrub species such as sage. Plots were treated the same, except for receiving either 50%, 100% or 150% of the fallen rain, which corresponded to severe drought, moderate drought and normal rainfall, respectively. Periodically, the researchers used a radiometer to measure NDVI for each plot.  They discovered that, as expected, drought reduced NDVI much more in the plots dominated by exotic herbaceous species (top graph below) than in the plots dominated by native shrubs (bottom graph).

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NDVI on each measurement date for plots dominated by (top graph) exotic herbaceous species and (bottom graph) native shrub species. Red square = severe drought treatment, green circle = moderate drought, blue triangle = normal precipitation. Error bars = +/- 1 standard error.

What caused this difference in response to drought between exotic plant-dominated and native plant-dominated communities?  Mechanistically, the native shrubs have deeper roots than the exotic grasses, which may allow them to take up more water.  But how does this translate to differences in green-up date and senescence date?

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A student measures stem elongation on a senescent native shrub, the black sage Salvia mellifera, near the very end of the growing season. Credit: Ellen Esch.

The researchers used two different NDVI measures to help answer this question.  Maximum NDVI is the greatest daily NDVI measure over the course of the growing season.  It is correlated with the maximum productivity of the plant community (at its greenest!).  In contrast seasonally integrated NDVI is a measure of productivity summed over the entire growing season.  Keeping those distinctions in mind, under extreme drought maximum NDVI was much lower in the exotic plots than the native plots.  But exotic plot performance increased with rainfall, so that under the wettest conditions (normal rainfall), exotic plot maximum NDVI was similar to native plot maximum NDVI (graph a below). However, when considered over the entire growing season, native plots were consistently more productive than exotic plots (graph c below).

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Effect of rainfall on (a) maximum NDVI (top left), (c) seasonally integrated NDVI (top right), (b) green-up date (bottom left) and (d) senescence date (bottom right). Colors indicate dominant plot community composition (yellow = herbaceous, green = shrub) and point shape indicates growing season year (circle = 2013, square = 2014, diamond = 2015, triangle = 2016).

Phenology played an important role accounting for these differences in seasonally integrated NDVI.  At all rainfall levels, the native plant communities greened-up well before the exotic plant communities (graph b above). Exotic plants greened-up somewhat earlier as rainfall increased, while native plant green-up date was independent of rainfall. At all rainfall levels, native plots senesced about one month later than exotic plots, with increased rainfall delaying senescence in both native and exotic plant communities (graph d above).

Esch and her colleagues conclude that species composition (native shrub vs. exotic herbaceous plants) and drought both influence phenology and productivity in this important ecosystem. Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency of extreme droughts in this and other ecosystems.  Consequently, drought coupled with invasion by herbaceous species threatens to sharply reduce ecosystem productivity, which will decrease the food available for consumers and decomposers, and simultaneously reduce the amount of carbon dioxide taken up and stored by the ecosystem, thereby contributing to further climate change.

note: the paper that describes this research is from the journal Ecology. The reference is Esch, E. H.,  Lipson, D. A., and  Cleland, E. E.  2019.  Invasion and drought alter phenological sensitivity and synergistically lower ecosystem production. Ecology  100(10):e02802. 10.1002/ecy.2802. Thanks to the Ecological Society of America for allowing me to use figures from the paper. Copyright © 2019 by the Ecological Society of America. All rights reserved.

Plant communities bank against drought

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Many plants shed their young embryos (seeds) into the soil where they may accumulate in a dormant (non-growth) state over years before germinating (resuming growth and development). Ecologists describe this collection of seeds as a seed bank.  Marina LaForgia describes how scientists were able to germinate and grow to maturity some 32,000 year old Silene stenophylla seeds that was stashed, probably by an ancient squirrel, in the permafrost! With increased climatic variation predicted by most climate models, she wanted to know how environmental variability might affect germination of particular groups of species within a community.  In addition, she and her colleagues recognized that most ecological studies investigate community responses to disturbances by looking at the aboveground species.  It stands to reason that we should consider the below-surface seed bank as a window to how a community might respond in the future.

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Some seedlings coming up from the seed bank. Credit:Marina LaForgia.

Seed banks can be viewed as a bet-hedging strategy that spreads out germination over several (or many) years to reduce the probability of catastrophic population decline in response to one severe disturbance, such as drought, flood or fire. In some California annual grassland communities, species diversity is dominated by annual forbs – nonwoody flowering plants that are not grasses. Many forbs produce seeds that can lie dormant in the seed banks for several years. Though these forbs are the most diverse group, there are also about 15 species of exotic annual grasses that dominate the landscape in abundance and cover. These grasses dominate because they produce up to 60,000 seeds per m2, they grow very quickly, and they build up a layer of thatch that suppresses native forbs. However, seeds from these grasses cannot lie dormant in the seed bank for very long.

 

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Area of field site dominated by Delphinium (purple flower) and Lasthenia (yellow flower).  Looking closely you can also see some tall grasses rising. Credit Marina LaForgia.

How is drought affecting these two major components of the plant community? LaForgia and her colleagues answered this question by collecting seeds from a northern California grassland at the University of California McLaughlin Natural Reserve in fall 2012 (beginning of the drought) and fall 2014 (near the end of the drought). They used a 5-cm diameter 10-cm deep cylindrical sampler  to collect soil and associated seeds from 80 different plots.  The researchers also used these same plots to estimate aboveground-cover, and to identify the aboveground species that were present. The research team germinated and identified more than 11,000 seeds.

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Plants germinating in the greenhouse. Credit Marina LaForgia.

The researchers knew from previous work on aboveground vegetation that exotic annual grasses declined very sharply in response to drought.  In contrast, the native forbs did relatively well, in part depending on their specific leaf area (SLA) – a measure of relative leaf size, with low SLA plants conserving water more efficiently. It seemed reasonable that these same patterns would be reflected belowground. Recall that most grass seeds are incapable of extended dormancy, while many forbs can remain dormant for several years. Consequently, LaForgia and her colleagues expected that grass abundance in the seed bank would decline more sharply than would forb abundance. In addition, they expected that high SLA forbs would not do as well as low SLA forbs during drought.

The researchers discovered very sharp differences between the two groups over the course of the drought. Exotic annual grasses declined sharply in the seed bank, while native annual forb abundance tripled.  Aboveground cover of grasses declined considerably, while aboveground cover of forbs increased modestly.  Clearly the exotic grasses were suffering from the drought, while the forbs were doing quite well.

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(a) Seed bank abundance of grasses (red circles) and forbs (blue triangles) at beginning of drought (2012) and near end of drought (2014). (b) Percent cover of grasses (red circles) and forbs (blue triangles) at beginning of drought (2012) and near end of drought (2014). Data are based on samples from 80 plots. Error bars indicate one standard error.

We can see these differences on an individual species basis, with most of the grasses declining modestly or sharply in abundance, while most of the forbs increased.

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Mean change in seed bank abundance per species based on 15 exotic grass species and 81 native forb species.

It is not surprising that the grasses do so poorly during the drought.  Presumably, less water causes poorer germination, growth, survival and seed production.  In addition, because grass seeds have a low capacity for dormancy, grass abundance will tend to decrease in the seed bank very quickly with such a low infusion of new seeds.

But why are the forbs actually doing better with less water available to them?  One explanation is that grass abundance and cover declined sharply, causing the forbs to experience reduced competition with grasses that might otherwise inhibit their growth, development and reproductive success. The tripling of native forbs in the seed bank was much greater than the 14% increase in aboveground forb cover.  The researchers reason that the drought caused many of the forb seeds to remain dormant, leading to them building up in the seed bank. This was particularly the case for low SLA forbs, which increased much more than did high SLA forbs in the seed bank.

We can understand exotic grass behavior in the context of their place of origin – the Mediterranean basin, which tends to have wet winters.  In that environment, natural selection favored individuals that germinated quickly, grew fast and made lots of babies. Since their introduction to California in the mid 1800s, 2014 was the driest year on record.  It will be fascinating to see if these exotic grasses can recover when, and if, wetter conditions return.  Can we bank on it?

note: the paper that describes this research is from the journal Ecology. The reference is LaForgia, M.L., Spasojevic, M.J., Case, E.J., Latimer, A.M. and Harrison, S.P., 2018. Seed banks of native forbs, but not exotic grasses, increase during extreme drought. Ecology99 (4): 896-903. Thanks to the Ecological Society of America for allowing me to use figures from the paper. Copyright © 2018 by the Ecological Society of America. All rights reserved.

Saguaro survival: establishing an icon

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Having grown up in the New York metropolitan area, my only contact with the saguaro cactus, Carnegiea gigantea, was from several TV westerns, which dubiously placed these mammoth cacti in New Mexico, Texas and Colorado.  In fact, the saguaro is limited to the Sonoran Desert of northwestern Mexico, extreme southeast California and southern and central Arizona. You won’t find these cacti further north, because a freeze lasting more than 24 hours kills them.  I still remember my first real sighting of these cacti; I was amazed at how distinct they seemed in comparison to the other vegetation, and I delighted in their abundance.

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Dense patch of saguaros. Credit: Daniel Winkler

Many others delight in their abundance as well.  The flowers, fruits and seeds feed many animals (including humans).  They were an important food for the Tohono O’odham and Pima Indians – eaten fresh or converted into numerous products including wine, juice, jam and syrup.

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Large saguaro with many fruits emanating from the apex of its branches. Credit: Daniel Winkler

Woodpeckers and flickers excavate nests in the saguaro’s trunk, which are subsequently occupied by other animals such as snakes, arthropods and small mammals.

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Saguaro with nest cavity excavated near the top of its trunk. Credit: Daniel Winkler

Daniel Winkler also delighted in the saguaro’s awesomeness. As he describes “I fell in love with answering some basic ecology questions about the saguaro. I was surprised that scientists had been studying this wonderful plant for almost 100 years and there were still many basic questions about the species general biology and ecology that remained unanswered. Thus, I was hooked immediately and became obsessed with saguaro.”

Don Swann - Photo of D. Winkler with young saguaros

Daniel Winkler with young saguaros. Credit: Don Swann

Winkler and his colleagues wanted to know how moisture, temperature and habitat influence the establishment or survival of juvenile saguaro seedlings. Previous research had shown that saguaro height can be used to estimate saguaro age, given knowledge of previous rainfall in a particular area. So buoyed by an army of citizen scientists whom they recruited with the help of social media, student groups from schools and volunteers working at the Saguaro National Park, the research team estimated the age of every saguaro on 36 4-ha plots (1 ha = 10,000 m2).

Going into the study, the researchers knew that rainfall was a very important factor, with saguaros surviving better during wet periods.  But they also knew that historically, some areas located near each other showed different establishment trends, thus they suspected that other variables, particularly land use and other landscape factors, might be important.  They did their research in two different districts within the park: 21 plots in the Rincon Mountain District (RMD) on the east side of the park, and 15 plots in the Tucson Mountain District (TMD) to the west. They classified each plot as a particular habitat type based on slope, elevation and soil-type. Bajada was low elevation, flat and had gravelly porous soils.  Foothills were intermediate elevation and intermediate slope, while sloped habitats had highest elevation, steepest slope, and the coarsest rockiest soils.

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Panoramic view of Saguaro National Park showing diversity of habitats. Credit: Daniel Winkler.

Winkler and his colleagues calculated the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) for the years 1950-2003. The PDSI quantifies the water balance between precipitation and evapotranspiration, taking into account not only rainfall but also other factors such as temperature and cloud cover.  The PDSI was estimated by assessing tree ring width for each year in nearby woodlands; wet conditions have wide tree rings (maximum PDSI value = +6), while dry years have narrow tree rings (minimum PDSI value = -6).

The researchers discovered a very strong association between the PDSI and seedling establishment. Low PDSI at the beginning and especially the end of the time frame was associated with low seedling establishment, while high PDSI (particularly in the 1980s was associated with high rates of seedling establishment (top graph below).  But other patterns emerged as well.  For example, establishment was higher in the TMD during the wettest years, but higher in the RMD during the most recent drought (bottom graph below).

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Top. Total number of saguaros (left Y-axis) established per hectare from 1950-2003 in relation to PDSI (dashed line, right Y-axis). Bottom. Total number of saguaros established per hectare in the Tucson Mountain District (TMD – filled bars) and the Rincon Mountain District (RMD – open bars)  from 1950-2003 in relation to PDSI (dashed line, right Y-axis).

Saguaro establishment increased in all habitats when conditions were relatively wet (more positive PDSI values).  Under drought conditions, slopes had greatest saguaro establishment, while establishment increased more rapidly in foothills (and to a lesser extent in Bajadas) as moisture levels increased.

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Model projecting number of saguaros established in the three major habitats in relation to PDSI.  Shaded regions are 95% confidence intervals.

The researchers were surprised at how tight the connection was between drought and saguaro establishment. But landscape features are also important.  The TMD is warmer and dryer than the nearby RMD, and had substantially lower establishment during the recent drought. The slopes in the RMD are steeper and rockier than sloped areas of the TMD, and may buffer saguaros from drought by capturing water in rock crevices and holding it for longer periods of time so it can be absorbed by saguaro roots. Nurse trees that provide shade to young saguaros may also be more common on the RMD slopes.

Winkler and his colleagues are concerned about the long-term impacts of climate change on saguaro populations, particularly in the drier areas of the TMD. They urge researchers to explore how long-term management of grazing and invasive species influences saguaro establishment across the landscape.  They also encourage researchers to gather some very basic data about saguaros, such as how they access water and how human water use patterns influence the water’s availability to this iconic species.

note: the paper that describes this research is from the journal Ecology. The reference is Winkler, D. E., Conver, J. L., Huxman, T. E. and Swann, D. E. (2018), The interaction of drought and habitat explain space–time patterns of establishment in saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea). Ecology 99: 621-631. doi:10.1002/ecy.2124. Thanks to the Ecological Society of America for allowing me to use figures from the paper. Copyright © 2018 by the Ecological Society of America. All rights reserved.