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- Title
Disentangling root responses to climate change in a semiarid grassland.
- Authors
Carrillo, Yolima; Dijkstra, Feike; LeCain, Dan; Morgan, Jack; Blumenthal, Dana; Waldron, Sarah; Pendall, Elise
- Abstract
Future ecosystem properties of grasslands will be driven largely by belowground biomass responses to climate change, which are challenging to understand due to experimental and technical constraints. We used a multi-faceted approach to explore single and combined impacts of elevated CO and warming on root carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics in a temperate, semiarid, native grassland at the Prairie Heating and CO Enrichment experiment. To investigate the indirect, moisture mediated effects of elevated CO, we included an irrigation treatment. We assessed root standing mass, morphology, residence time and seasonal appearance/disappearance of community-aggregated roots, as well as mass and N losses during decomposition of two dominant grass species (a C and a C). In contrast to what is common in mesic grasslands, greater root standing mass under elevated CO resulted from increased production, unmatched by disappearance. Elevated CO plus warming produced roots that were longer, thinner and had greater surface area, which, together with greater standing biomass, could potentially alter root function and dynamics. Decomposition increased under environmental conditions generated by elevated CO, but not those generated by warming, likely due to soil desiccation with warming. Elevated CO, particularly under warming, slowed N release from C-but not C-roots, and consequently could indirectly affect N availability through treatment effects on species composition. Elevated CO and warming effects on root morphology and decomposition could offset increased C inputs from greater root biomass, thereby limiting future net C accrual in this semiarid grassland.
- Subjects
ARID regions; GRASSLANDS; CARBON; PLANT root morphology; BIOGEOCHEMICAL residence time; VEGETATION &; climate
- Publication
Oecologia, 2014, Vol 175, Issue 2, p699
- ISSN
0029-8549
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00442-014-2912-z