Local adaptation to precipitation in the perennial grass Elymus elymoides: Trade-offs between growth and drought resistance traits.

Understanding local adaptation to climate is critical for managing ecosystems in the face of climate change. While there have been many provenance studies in trees, less is known about local adaptation in herbaceous species, including the perennial grasses that dominate arid and semiarid rangeland ecosystems. We used a common garden study to quantify variation in growth and drought resistance traits in 99 populations of Elymus elymoides from a broad geographic and climatic range in the western United States. Ecotypes from drier sites produced less biomass and smaller seeds, and had traits associated with greater drought resistance: small leaves with low osmotic potential and high integrated water use efficiency (δ13C). Seasonality also influenced plant traits. Plants from regions with relatively warm, wet summers had large seeds, large leaves, and low δ13C. Irrespective of climate, we also observed trade-offs between biomass production and drought resistance traits. Together, these results suggest that much of the phenotypic variation among E. elymoides ecotypes represents local adaptation to differences in the amount and timing of water availability. In addition, ecotypes that grow rapidly may be less able to persist under dry conditions. Land managers may be able to use this variation to improve restoration success by seeding ecotypes with multiple drought resistance traits in areas with lower precipitation. The future success of this common rangeland species will likely depend on the use of tools such as seed transfer zones to match local variation in growth and drought resistance to predicted climatic conditions.

Elevated CO2 induces substantial and persistent declines in forage quality irrespective of warming in mixedgrass prairie.

Increasing atmospheric [CO2 ] and temperature are expected to affect the productivity, species composition, biogeochemistry, and therefore the quantity and quality of forage available to herbivores in rangeland ecosystems. Both elevated CO2 (eCO2 ) and warming affect plant tissue chemistry through multiple direct and indirect pathways, such that the cumulative outcomes of these effects are difficult to predict. Here, we report on a 7-yr study examining effects of CO2 enrichment (to 600 ppm) and infrared warming (+1.5°C day/3°C night) under realistic field conditions on forage quality and quantity in a semiarid, mixedgrass prairie. For the three dominant forage grasses, warming effects on in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and tissue [N] were detected only in certain years, varied from negative to positive, and were relatively minor. In contrast, eCO2 substantially reduced IVDMD (two most abundant grasses) and [N] (all three dominant grass species) in most years, except the two wettest years. Furthermore, eCO2 reduced IVDMD and [N] independent of warming effects. Reduced IVDMD with eCO2 was related both to reduced [N] and increased acid detergent fiber (ADF) content of grass tissues. For the six most abundant forage species (representing 96% of total forage production), combined warming and eCO2 increased forage production by 38% and reduced forage [N] by 13% relative to ambient climate. Although the absolute magnitude of the decline in IVDMD and [N] due to combined warming and eCO2 may seem small (e.g., from 63.3 to 61.1% IVDMD and 1.25 to 1.04% [N] for Pascopyrum smithii), such shifts could have substantial consequences for the rate at which ruminants gain weight during the primary growing season in the largest remaining rangeland ecosystem in North America. With forage production increases, declining forage quality could potentially be mitigated by adaptively increasing stocking rates, and through management such as prescribed burning, fertilization at low rates, and legume interseeding to enhance forage quality.

Five years of phenology observations from a mixed-grass prairie exposed to warming and elevated CO2.

Atmospheric CO2 concentrations have been steadily increasing since the Industrial Era and contribute to concurrent increases in global temperatures. Many observational studies suggest climate warming alone contributes to a longer growing season. To determine the relative effect of warming on plant phenology, we investigated the individual and joint effects of warming and CO2 enrichment on a mixed-grass prairie plant community by following the development of six common grassland species and recording four major life history events. Our data support that, in a semi-arid system, while warming advances leaf emergence and flower production, it also expedites seed maturation and senescence at the species level. However, the additive effect can be an overall lengthening of the growing and reproductive seasons since CO2 enrichment, particularly when combined with warming, contributed to a longer growing season by delaying plant maturation and senescence. Fostering synthesis across multiple phenology datasets and identifying key factors affecting plant phenology will be vital for understanding regional plant community responses to climate change.

Dominant plant taxa predict plant productivity responses to CO2 enrichment across precipitation and soil gradients.

The Earth's atmosphere will continue to be enriched with carbon dioxide (CO2) over the coming century. Carbon dioxide enrichment often reduces leaf transpiration, which in water-limited ecosystems may increase soil water content, change species abundances and increase the productivity of plant communities. The effect of increased soil water on community productivity and community change may be greater in ecosystems with lower precipitation, or on coarser-textured soils, but responses are likely absent in deserts. We tested correlations among yearly increases in soil water content, community change and community plant productivity responses to CO2 enrichment in experiments in a mesic grassland with fine- to coarse-textured soils, a semi-arid grassland and a xeric shrubland. We found no correlation between CO2-caused changes in soil water content and changes in biomass of dominant plant taxa or total community aboveground biomass in either grassland type or on any soil in the mesic grassland (P > 0.60). Instead, increases in dominant taxa biomass explained up to 85 % of the increases in total community biomass under CO2 enrichment. The effect of community change on community productivity was stronger in the semi-arid grassland than in the mesic grassland, where community biomass change on one soil was not correlated with the change in either the soil water content or the dominant taxa. No sustained increases in soil water content or community productivity and no change in dominant plant taxa occurred in the xeric shrubland. Thus, community change was a crucial driver of community productivity responses to CO2 enrichment in the grasslands, but effects of soil water change on productivity were not evident in yearly responses to CO2 enrichment. Future research is necessary to isolate and clarify the mechanisms controlling the temporal and spatial variations in the linkages among soil water, community change and plant productivity responses to CO2 enrichment.

Long-term exposure to elevated CO2 enhances plant community stability by suppressing dominant plant species in a mixed-grass prairie.

Climate controls vegetation distribution across the globe, and some vegetation types are more vulnerable to climate change, whereas others are more resistant. Because resistance and resilience can influence ecosystem stability and determine how communities and ecosystems respond to climate change, we need to evaluate the potential for resistance as we predict future ecosystem function. In a mixed-grass prairie in the northern Great Plains, we used a large field experiment to test the effects of elevated CO2, warming, and summer irrigation on plant community structure and productivity, linking changes in both to stability in plant community composition and biomass production. We show that the independent effects of CO2 and warming on community composition and productivity depend on interannual variation in precipitation and that the effects of elevated CO2 are not limited to water saving because they differ from those of irrigation. We also show that production in this mixed-grass prairie ecosystem is not only relatively resistant to interannual variation in precipitation, but also rendered more stable under elevated CO2 conditions. This increase in production stability is the result of altered community dominance patterns: Community evenness increases as dominant species decrease in biomass under elevated CO2. In many grasslands that serve as rangelands, the economic value of the ecosystem is largely dependent on plant community composition and the relative abundance of key forage species. Thus, our results have implications for how we manage native grasslands in the face of changing climate.

Invasive forb benefits from water savings by native plants and carbon fertilization under elevated CO2 and warming.

As global changes reorganize plant communities, invasive plants may benefit. We hypothesized that elevated CO2 and warming would strongly influence invasive species success in a semi-arid grassland, as a result of both direct and water-mediated indirect effects. To test this hypothesis, we transplanted the invasive forb Linaria dalmatica into mixed-grass prairie treated with free-air CO2 enrichment and infrared warming, and followed survival, growth, and reproduction over 4 yr. We also measured leaf gas exchange and carbon isotopic composition in L. dalmatica and the dominant native C3 grass Pascopyrum smithii. CO2 enrichment increased L. dalmatica biomass 13-fold, seed production 32-fold, and clonal expansion seven-fold, while warming had little effect on L. dalmatica biomass or reproduction. Elevated CO2 decreased stomatal conductance in P. smithii, contributing to higher soil water, but not in L. dalmatica. Elevated CO2 also strongly increased L. dalmatica photosynthesis (87% versus 23% in P. smithii), as a result of both enhanced carbon supply and increased soil water. More broadly, rapid growth and less conservative water use may allow invasive species to take advantage of both carbon fertilization and water savings under elevated CO2 . Water-limited ecosystems may therefore be particularly vulnerable to invasion as CO2 increases.

Warming reduces carbon losses from grassland exposed to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The flux of carbon dioxide (CO2) between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere may ameliorate or exacerbate climate change, depending on the relative responses of ecosystem photosynthesis and respiration to warming temperatures, rising atmospheric CO2, and altered precipitation. The combined effect of these global change factors is especially uncertain because of their potential for interactions and indirectly mediated conditions such as soil moisture. Here, we present observations of CO2 fluxes from a multi-factor experiment in semi-arid grassland that suggests a potentially strong climate - carbon cycle feedback under combined elevated [CO2] and warming. Elevated [CO2] alone, and in combination with warming, enhanced ecosystem respiration to a greater extent than photosynthesis, resulting in net C loss over four years. The effect of warming was to reduce respiration especially during years of below-average precipitation, by partially offsetting the effect of elevated [CO2] on soil moisture and C cycling. Carbon losses were explained partly by stimulated decomposition of soil organic matter with elevated [CO2]. The climate - carbon cycle feedback observed in this semiarid grassland was mediated by soil water content, which was reduced by warming and increased by elevated [CO2]. Ecosystem models should incorporate direct and indirect effects of climate change on soil water content in order to accurately predict terrestrial feedbacks and long-term storage of C in soil.

Climate change reduces the net sink of CH4 and N2O in a semiarid grassland.

Atmospheric concentrations of methane (CH4 ) and nitrous oxide (N2 O) have increased over the last 150 years because of human activity. Soils are important sources and sinks of both potent greenhouse gases where their production and consumption are largely regulated by biological processes. Climate change could alter these processes thereby affecting both rate and direction of their exchange with the atmosphere. We examined how a rise in atmospheric CO2 and temperature affected CH4 and N2 O fluxes in a well-drained upland soil (volumetric water content ranging between 6% and 23%) in a semiarid grassland during five growing seasons. We hypothesized that responses of CH4 and N2 O fluxes to elevated CO2 and warming would be driven primarily by treatment effects on soil moisture. Previously we showed that elevated CO2 increased and warming decreased soil moisture in this grassland. We therefore expected that elevated CO2 and warming would have opposing effects on CH4 and N2 O fluxes. Methane was taken up throughout the growing season in all 5 years. A bell-shaped relationship was observed with soil moisture with highest CH4 uptake at intermediate soil moisture. Both N2 O emission and uptake occurred at our site with some years showing cumulative N2 O emission and other years showing cumulative N2 O uptake. Nitrous oxide exchange switched from net uptake to net emission with increasing soil moisture. In contrast to our hypothesis, both elevated CO2 and warming reduced the sink of CH4 and N2 O expressed in CO2 equivalents (across 5 years by 7% and 11% for elevated CO2 and warming respectively) suggesting that soil moisture changes were not solely responsible for this reduction. We conclude that in a future climate this semiarid grassland may become a smaller sink for atmospheric CH4 and N2 O expressed in CO2 -equivalents.

Elevated CO2 does not offset greater water stress predicted under climate change for native and exotic riparian plants.

In semiarid western North American riparian ecosystems, increased drought and lower streamflows under climate change may reduce plant growth and recruitment, and favor drought-tolerant exotic species over mesic native species. We tested whether elevated atmospheric CO2 might ameliorate these effects by improving plant water-use efficiency. We examined the effects of CO2 and water availability on seedlings of two native (Populus deltoides spp. monilifera, Salix exigua) and three exotic (Elaeagnus angustifolia, Tamarix spp., Ulmus pumila) western North American riparian species in a CO2-controlled glasshouse, using 1-m-deep pots with different water-table decline rates. Low water availability reduced seedling biomass by 70-97%, and hindered the native species more than the exotics. Elevated CO2 increased biomass by 15%, with similar effects on natives and exotics. Elevated CO2 increased intrinsic water-use efficiency (Δ¹³C(leaf) ), but did not increase biomass more in drier treatments than wetter treatments. The moderate positive effects of elevated CO2 on riparian seedlings are unlikely to counteract the large negative effects of increased aridity projected under climate change. Our results suggest that increased aridity will reduce riparian seedling growth despite elevated CO2, and will reduce growth more for native Salix and Populus than for drought-tolerant exotic species.

Climate change alters stoichiometry of phosphorus and nitrogen in a semiarid grassland.

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are essential nutrients for primary producers and decomposers in terrestrial ecosystems. Although climate change affects terrestrial N cycling with important feedbacks to plant productivity and carbon sequestration, the impacts of climate change on the relative availability of N with respect to P remain highly uncertain. In a semiarid grassland in Wyoming, USA, we studied the effects of atmospheric CO(2) enrichment (to 600 ppmv) and warming (1.5/3.0°C above ambient temperature during the day/night) on plant, microbial and available soil pools of N and P. Elevated CO(2) increased P availability to plants and microbes relative to that of N, whereas warming reduced P availability relative to N. Across years and treatments, plant N : P ratios varied between 5 and 18 and were inversely related to soil moisture. Our results indicate that soil moisture is important in controlling P supply from inorganic sources, causing reduced P relative to N availability during dry periods. Both wetter soil conditions under elevated CO(2) and drier conditions with warming can further alter N : P. Although warming may alleviate N constraints under elevated CO(2) , warming and drought can exacerbate P constraints on plant growth and microbial activity in this semiarid grassland.

C4 grasses prosper as carbon dioxide eliminates desiccation in warmed semi-arid grassland.

Global warming is predicted to induce desiccation in many world regions through increases in evaporative demand. Rising CO(2) may counter that trend by improving plant water-use efficiency. However, it is not clear how important this CO(2)-enhanced water use efficiency might be in offsetting warming-induced desiccation because higher CO(2) also leads to higher plant biomass, and therefore greater transpirational surface. Furthermore, although warming is predicted to favour warm-season, C(4) grasses, rising CO(2) should favour C(3), or cool-season plants. Here we show in a semi-arid grassland that elevated CO(2) can completely reverse the desiccating effects of moderate warming. Although enrichment of air to 600 p.p.m.v. CO(2) increased soil water content (SWC), 1.5/3.0 °C day/night warming resulted in desiccation, such that combined CO(2) enrichment and warming had no effect on SWC relative to control plots. As predicted, elevated CO(2) favoured C(3) grasses and enhanced stand productivity, whereas warming favoured C(4) grasses. Combined warming and CO(2) enrichment stimulated above-ground growth of C(4) grasses in 2 of 3 years when soil moisture most limited plant productivity. The results indicate that in a warmer, CO(2)-enriched world, both SWC and productivity in semi-arid grasslands may be higher than previously expected.

Carbon dioxide enrichment alters plant community structure and accelerates shrub growth in the shortgrass steppe.

A hypothesis has been advanced that the incursion of woody plants into world grasslands over the past two centuries has been driven in part by increasing carbon dioxide concentration, [CO(2)], in Earth's atmosphere. Unlike the warm season forage grasses they are displacing, woody plants have a photosynthetic metabolism and carbon allocation patterns that are responsive to CO(2), and many have tap roots that are more effective than grasses for reaching deep soil water stores that can be enhanced under elevated CO(2). However, this commonly cited hypothesis has little direct support from manipulative experimentation and competes with more traditional theories of shrub encroachment involving climate change, management, and fire. Here, we show that, although doubling [CO(2)] over the Colorado shortgrass steppe had little impact on plant species diversity, it resulted in an increasingly dissimilar plant community over the 5-year experiment compared with plots maintained at present-day [CO(2)]. Growth at the doubled [CO(2)] resulted in an approximately 40-fold increase in aboveground biomass and a 20-fold increase in plant cover of Artemisia frigida Willd, a common subshrub of some North American and Asian grasslands. This CO(2)-induced enhancement of plant growth, among the highest yet reported, provides evidence from a native grassland suggesting that rising atmospheric [CO(2)] may be contributing to the shrubland expansions of the past 200 years. Encroachment of shrubs into grasslands is an important problem facing rangeland managers and ranchers; this process replaces grasses, the preferred forage of domestic livestock, with species that are unsuitable for domestic livestock grazing.

Response of organic and inorganic carbon and nitrogen to long-term grazing of the shortgrass steppe.

We investigated the influence of long-term (56 years) grazing on organic and inorganic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) contents of the plant-soil system (to 90 cm depth) in shortgrass steppe of northeastern Colorado. Grazing treatments included continuous season-long (May-October) grazing by yearling heifers at heavy (60-75% utilization) and light (20-35% utilization) stocking rates, and nongrazed exclosures. The heavy stocking rate resulted in a plant community that was dominated (75% of biomass production) by the C4 grass blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), whereas excluding livestock grazing increased the production of C3 grasses and prickly pear cactus (Opuntia polycantha). Soil organic C (SOC) and organic N were not significantly different between the light grazing and nongrazed treatments, whereas the heavy grazing treatment was 7.5 Mg ha(-1) higher in SOC than the nongrazed treatment. Lower ratios of net mineralized N to total organic N in both grazed compared to nongrazed treatments suggest that long-term grazing decreased the readily mineralizable fraction of soil organic matter. Heavy grazing affected soil inorganic C (SIC) more than the SOC. The heavy grazing treatment was 23.8 Mg ha(-1) higher in total soil C (0-90 cm) than the nongrazed treatment, with 68% (16.3 Mg ha(-1)) attributable to higher SIC, and 32% (7.5 Mg ha(-1)) to higher SOC. These results emphasize the importance in semiarid and arid ecosystems of including inorganic C in assessments of the mass and distribution of plant-soil C and in evaluations of the impacts of grazing management on C sequestration.

Soil and plant water relations determine photosynthetic responses of C3 and C4 grasses in a semi-arid ecosystem under elevated CO2.

To model the effect of increasing atmospheric CO2 on semi-arid grasslands, the gas exchange responses of leaves to seasonal changes in soil water, and how they are modified by CO2, must be understood for C3 and C4 species that grow in the same area. In this study, open-top chambers were used to investigate the photosynthetic and stomatal responses of Pascopyrum smithii (C3) and Bouteloua gracilis (C4) grown at 360 (ambient CO2) and 720 micro mol mol-1 CO2 (elevated CO2) in a semi-arid shortgrass steppe. Assimilation rate (A) and stomatal conductance (gs) at the treatment CO2 concentrations and at a range of intercellular CO2 concentrations and leaf water potentials (psileaf) were measured over 4 years with variable soil water content caused by season and CO2 treatment. Carboxylation efficiency of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Vc,max), and ribulose bisphosphate regeneration capacity (Jmax) were reduced in P. smithii grown in elevated CO2, to the degree that A was similar in elevated and ambient CO2 (when soil moisture was adequate). Photosynthetic capacity was not reduced in B. gracilis under elevated CO2, but A was nearly saturated at ambient CO2. There were no stomatal adaptations independent of photosynthetic acclimation. Although photosynthetic capacity was reduced in P. smithii growing in elevated CO2, reduced gs and transpiration improved soil water content and psileaf in the elevated CO2 chambers, thereby improving A of both species during dry periods. These results suggest that photosynthetic responses of C3 and C4 grasses in this semi-arid ecosystem will be driven primarily by the effect of elevated CO2 on plant and soil water relations.