Regional Contingencies in the Relationship between Aboveground Biomass and Litter in the World’s Grasslands
| Autor: | W. Stan Harpole, Kirsten S. Hofmockel, Rebecca L. McCulley, Guozhen Du, John L. Orrock, Lydia R. O'Halloran, Andrew S. MacDougall, Suzanne M. Prober, Sarah E. Hobbie, Jennifer Firn, Carly J. Stevens, Elizabeth T. Borer, Nicole Hagenah, John W. Morgan, Johannes M. H. Knops, Chengjin Chu, Eric W. Seabloom, Nicole M. DeCrappeo, Wei Li, Jonathan D. Bakker, Elsa E. Cleland, Kendi F. Davies, Brett A. Melbourne |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Research Validity 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Ecological Metrics Science Policy Climate Biomass (Ecology) lcsh:Medicine Biology Poaceae 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Grassland Carbon Cycle Spatial and Landscape Ecology Ecosystem Biomass lcsh:Science 0105 earth and related environmental sciences geography Biomass (ecology) Multidisciplinary geography.geographical_feature_category Ecology Productivity (Ecology) Soil organic matter lcsh:R Primary production 15. Life on land Plant litter Research Assessment Terrestrial Environments Reproducibility Carbon Energy Flow Geochemistry Agronomy Community Ecology Biogeography 13. Climate action Litter Earth Sciences lcsh:Q Terrestrial ecosystem Research Article Ecological Environments |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 2, p e54988 (2013) |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Popis: | Based on regional-scale studies, aboveground production and litter decomposition are thought to positively covary, because they are driven by shared biotic and climatic factors. Until now we have been unable to test whether production and decomposition are generally coupled across climatically dissimilar regions, because we lacked replicated data collected within a single vegetation type across multiple regions, obfuscating the drivers and generality of the association between production and decomposition. Furthermore, our understanding of the relationships between production and decomposition rests heavily on separate meta-analyses of each response, because no studies have simultaneously measured production and the accumulation or decomposition of litter using consistent methods at globally relevant scales. Here, we use a multi-country grassland dataset collected using a standardized protocol to show that live plant biomass (an estimate of aboveground net primary production) and litter disappearance (represented by mass loss of aboveground litter) do not strongly covary. Live biomass and litter disappearance varied at different spatial scales. There was substantial variation in live biomass among continents, sites and plots whereas among continent differences accounted for most of the variation in litter disappearance rates. Although there were strong associations among aboveground biomass, litter disappearance and climatic factors in some regions (e.g. U.S. Great Plains), these relationships were inconsistent within and among the regions represented by this study. These results highlight the importance of replication among regions and continents when characterizing the correlations between ecosystem processes and interpreting their global-scale implications for carbon flux. We must exercise caution in parameterizing litter decomposition and aboveground production in future regional and global carbon models as their relationship is complex. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|