| Facilitation by leguminous shrubs increases along a precipitation gradient | |
| Zhang, Hai-Yang1,2; Lu, Xiao-Tao1; Knapp, Alan K.3; Hartmann, Henrik2; Bai, Edith1; Wang, Xiao-Bo1; Wang, Zheng-Wen1; Wang, Xiao-Guang4; Yu, Qiang5; Han, Xing-Guo6 | |
| Corresponding Author | Yu, Qiang(turfyu@gmail.com) ; Han, Xing-Guo(xghan@ibcas.ac.cn) |
| 2018 | |
| Source Publication | FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
 |
| ISSN | 0269-8463 |
| Volume | 32Issue:1Pages:203-213 |
| Abstract | Combining nutrient dynamics (plant nutrient uptake and soil fertility) can help uncover mechanisms of shrub-grass interactions and assess the validity of the stress-gradient hypothesis, which predicts that facilitation between plants increases in stressful environments. However, how facilitation via shrub-mediated nutrient increases varies with precipitation is poorly resolved. We first synthesized a global dataset from 66 studies and evaluated how shrubs affected soil organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in grasslands along a precipitation gradient. We then made new measurements in a single-grassland type encroached by leguminous shrubs from the same genus (Caragana) to constrain the variations caused by combining different grassland types and shrubs traits in the meta-analysis. Specifically, we investigated how shrubs mediated N dynamics and how shrub-grass interactions varied along a precipitation gradient (147-342mm) in a temperate steppe of China. At the global scale, leguminous shrub-mediated effects on soil nutrients increased with precipitation, while no relationship was found for non-leguminous shrub. For the field experiment, greater N and lower N-15 in Caragana compared to non-leguminous shrub (reference shrub, Salsola collina) suggested active N-fixation in Caragana. We found that Caragana enhanced N concentration and leaf quality (low C:N ratio) in neighbouring plants more on mesic sites than on xeric sites. Thus, facilitation increased via higher soil N and with decreasing environmental stress, at least along this relatively arid precipitation gradient. Our results highlight the importance of precipitation in determining the nutritional facilitation to neighbouring grasses from encroaching leguminous shrubs. Conceptual frameworks for plant facilitation may therefore need to include shrub characteristics (N-fixers vs. non-fixers) and positive effects of higher precipitation on this type of facilitation to characterize plant interactions along stress gradients. A is available for this article. |
| Keyword | competition dryland facilitation Inner Mongolia nurse plant nutrient dynamics shrub encroachment stress gradient hypothesis |
| Funding Organization | Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ; China Scholarship Council - Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (CSC-DAAD) Post-doc Joint Programme ; National Natural Science Foundation of China ; Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ; National Key Research and Development Programme |
| DOI | 10.1111/1365-2435.12941 |
| Indexed By | SCI |
| Language | 英语 |
| Funding Project | Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences[2014174] ; China Scholarship Council - Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (CSC-DAAD) Post-doc Joint Programme ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[31270476] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[41320104002] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[31170433] ; Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences[XDB15010401] ; National Key Research and Development Programme[2016YFC0500601] |
| WOS Research Area | Environmental Sciences & Ecology |
| WOS Subject | Ecology |
| WOS ID | WOS:000419494600020 |
| Publisher | WILEY |
| Citation statistics | |
| Document Type | 期刊论文 |
| Identifier | http://ir.imr.ac.cn/handle/321006/127218 |
| Collection | 中国科学院金属研究所 |
| Corresponding Author | Yu, Qiang; Han, Xing-Guo |
| Affiliation | 1.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Appl Ecol, Erguna Forest Steppe Ecotone Res Stn, Shenyang, Liaoning, Peoples R China 2.Max Planck Inst Biogeochem, Jena, Germany 3.Colorado State Univ, Dept Biol, Ft Collins, CO 80523 USA 4.Dalian Minzu Univ, Coll Environm & Resources, Dalian, Peoples R China 5.Chinese Acad Agr Sci, Inst Agr Resources & Reg Planning, Natl Hulunber Grassland Ecosyst Observat & Res St, Beijing, Peoples R China 6.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Bot, State Key Lab Vegetat & Environm Change, Beijing, Peoples R China |
| Recommended Citation GB/T 7714 | Zhang, Hai-Yang,Lu, Xiao-Tao,Knapp, Alan K.,et al. Facilitation by leguminous shrubs increases along a precipitation gradient[J]. FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY,2018,32(1):203-213. |
| APA | Zhang, Hai-Yang.,Lu, Xiao-Tao.,Knapp, Alan K..,Hartmann, Henrik.,Bai, Edith.,...&Han, Xing-Guo.(2018).Facilitation by leguminous shrubs increases along a precipitation gradient.FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY,32(1),203-213. |
| MLA | Zhang, Hai-Yang,et al."Facilitation by leguminous shrubs increases along a precipitation gradient".FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY 32.1(2018):203-213. |
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