Cargando…

A savanna response to precipitation intensity

As the atmosphere warms, precipitation events are becoming less frequent but more intense. A three-year experiment in Kruger National Park, South Africa, found that fewer, more intense precipitation events encouraged woody plant encroachment. To test whether or not these treatment responses persiste...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Berry, Ryan S., Kulmatiski, Andrew
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5384789/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28388640
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0175402
_version_ 1782520505445646336
author Berry, Ryan S.
Kulmatiski, Andrew
author_facet Berry, Ryan S.
Kulmatiski, Andrew
author_sort Berry, Ryan S.
collection PubMed
description As the atmosphere warms, precipitation events are becoming less frequent but more intense. A three-year experiment in Kruger National Park, South Africa, found that fewer, more intense precipitation events encouraged woody plant encroachment. To test whether or not these treatment responses persisted over time, here, we report results from all five years of that experiment. Grass growth, woody plant growth, total fine root number and area and hydrologic tracer uptake by grasses and woody plants were measured in six treated plots (8 m by 8 m) and six control plots. Treatment effects on soil moisture were measured continuously in one treated and one control plot. During the fourth year, increased precipitation intensity treatments continued to decrease water flux in surface soils (0–10 cm), increase water flux in deeper soils (20+ cm), decrease grass growth and increase woody plant growth. Greater root numbers at 20–40 cm and greater woody plant uptake of a hydrological tracer from 45–60 cm suggested that woody plants increased growth by increasing root number and activity (but not root area) in deeper soils. During the fifth year, natural precipitation events were large and intense so treatments had little effect on precipitation intensity or plant available water. Consistent with this effective treatment removal, there was no difference in grass or woody growth rates between control and treated plots, although woody plant biomass remained higher in treated than control plots due to treatment effects in the previous four years. Across the five years of this experiment, we found that 1) small increases in precipitation intensity can result in large increases in deep (20–130 cm) soil water availability, 2) plant growth responses to precipitation intensity are rapid and disappear quickly, and 3) because woody plants accumulate biomass, occasional increases in precipitation intensity can result in long-term increases in woody plant biomass (i.e., shrub encroachment). While results are likely to be site-specific, they provide experimental evidence of large ecohydrological responses to small changes in precipitation intensity.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5384789
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-53847892017-05-03 A savanna response to precipitation intensity Berry, Ryan S. Kulmatiski, Andrew PLoS One Research Article As the atmosphere warms, precipitation events are becoming less frequent but more intense. A three-year experiment in Kruger National Park, South Africa, found that fewer, more intense precipitation events encouraged woody plant encroachment. To test whether or not these treatment responses persisted over time, here, we report results from all five years of that experiment. Grass growth, woody plant growth, total fine root number and area and hydrologic tracer uptake by grasses and woody plants were measured in six treated plots (8 m by 8 m) and six control plots. Treatment effects on soil moisture were measured continuously in one treated and one control plot. During the fourth year, increased precipitation intensity treatments continued to decrease water flux in surface soils (0–10 cm), increase water flux in deeper soils (20+ cm), decrease grass growth and increase woody plant growth. Greater root numbers at 20–40 cm and greater woody plant uptake of a hydrological tracer from 45–60 cm suggested that woody plants increased growth by increasing root number and activity (but not root area) in deeper soils. During the fifth year, natural precipitation events were large and intense so treatments had little effect on precipitation intensity or plant available water. Consistent with this effective treatment removal, there was no difference in grass or woody growth rates between control and treated plots, although woody plant biomass remained higher in treated than control plots due to treatment effects in the previous four years. Across the five years of this experiment, we found that 1) small increases in precipitation intensity can result in large increases in deep (20–130 cm) soil water availability, 2) plant growth responses to precipitation intensity are rapid and disappear quickly, and 3) because woody plants accumulate biomass, occasional increases in precipitation intensity can result in long-term increases in woody plant biomass (i.e., shrub encroachment). While results are likely to be site-specific, they provide experimental evidence of large ecohydrological responses to small changes in precipitation intensity. Public Library of Science 2017-04-07 /pmc/articles/PMC5384789/ /pubmed/28388640 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0175402 Text en © 2017 Berry, Kulmatiski http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Berry, Ryan S.
Kulmatiski, Andrew
A savanna response to precipitation intensity
title A savanna response to precipitation intensity
title_full A savanna response to precipitation intensity
title_fullStr A savanna response to precipitation intensity
title_full_unstemmed A savanna response to precipitation intensity
title_short A savanna response to precipitation intensity
title_sort savanna response to precipitation intensity
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5384789/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28388640
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0175402
work_keys_str_mv AT berryryans asavannaresponsetoprecipitationintensity
AT kulmatiskiandrew asavannaresponsetoprecipitationintensity
AT berryryans savannaresponsetoprecipitationintensity
AT kulmatiskiandrew savannaresponsetoprecipitationintensity