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Differential Mechanisms Drive Species Loss Under Artificial Shade and Fertilization in the Alpine Meadow of the Tibetan Plateau

Fertilization is an effective management strategy to promote community biomass but can simultaneously reduce species diversity in many grassland systems. Shifts in competition for resources have been proposed to explain the decline in plant species diversity due to fertilization, yet the underlying...

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Autores principales: Li, Junyong, Charles, Lachlan S., Yang, Zhongling, Du, Guozhen, Fu, Shenglei
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8860893/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35211142
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.832473
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author Li, Junyong
Charles, Lachlan S.
Yang, Zhongling
Du, Guozhen
Fu, Shenglei
author_facet Li, Junyong
Charles, Lachlan S.
Yang, Zhongling
Du, Guozhen
Fu, Shenglei
author_sort Li, Junyong
collection PubMed
description Fertilization is an effective management strategy to promote community biomass but can simultaneously reduce species diversity in many grassland systems. Shifts in competition for resources have been proposed to explain the decline in plant species diversity due to fertilization, yet the underlying mechanism driving species loss remains controversial. This uncertainty may be driven by variation in aboveground and belowground resource availability. However, experiments simultaneously manipulating both light availability and soil nutrients are rare. Using a 6-year field experiment to manipulate light availability (via shade cloth) and soil nutrients (via fertilizer addition), we tested this resource competition hypothesis in a species-rich alpine meadow by examining the variation of species traits associated with the capacity of light acquisition within these treatments. Our results showed that artificial shade decreased community biomass accumulation whereas fertilization increased it. In contrast, both shade and fertilization reduced species diversity. Extinction of non-Gramineae species (e.g., Fabaceae and Cyperaceae) was the main reason for species diversity decline. Species loss can be explained by the limitation of light availability and predicted by species traits associated with light acquisition capability under fertilization and low light tolerance under artificial shade. Specifically, fertilization eliminated species with lower stature and artificial shade exterminated species with the higher light compensation point (LCP). The findings suggest that light availability is consistently important for plant growth and that low competitiveness for light under fertilization and intolerance of low light conditions under artificial shade trigger species loss process in the alpine meadow. Our experiment helps clarify the mechanisms of how artificial shade and fertilization decreased species diversity and highlight that LCP, which tends to be neglected by most of the studies, is one of the vital drivers in determining species coexistence.
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spelling pubmed-88608932022-02-23 Differential Mechanisms Drive Species Loss Under Artificial Shade and Fertilization in the Alpine Meadow of the Tibetan Plateau Li, Junyong Charles, Lachlan S. Yang, Zhongling Du, Guozhen Fu, Shenglei Front Plant Sci Plant Science Fertilization is an effective management strategy to promote community biomass but can simultaneously reduce species diversity in many grassland systems. Shifts in competition for resources have been proposed to explain the decline in plant species diversity due to fertilization, yet the underlying mechanism driving species loss remains controversial. This uncertainty may be driven by variation in aboveground and belowground resource availability. However, experiments simultaneously manipulating both light availability and soil nutrients are rare. Using a 6-year field experiment to manipulate light availability (via shade cloth) and soil nutrients (via fertilizer addition), we tested this resource competition hypothesis in a species-rich alpine meadow by examining the variation of species traits associated with the capacity of light acquisition within these treatments. Our results showed that artificial shade decreased community biomass accumulation whereas fertilization increased it. In contrast, both shade and fertilization reduced species diversity. Extinction of non-Gramineae species (e.g., Fabaceae and Cyperaceae) was the main reason for species diversity decline. Species loss can be explained by the limitation of light availability and predicted by species traits associated with light acquisition capability under fertilization and low light tolerance under artificial shade. Specifically, fertilization eliminated species with lower stature and artificial shade exterminated species with the higher light compensation point (LCP). The findings suggest that light availability is consistently important for plant growth and that low competitiveness for light under fertilization and intolerance of low light conditions under artificial shade trigger species loss process in the alpine meadow. Our experiment helps clarify the mechanisms of how artificial shade and fertilization decreased species diversity and highlight that LCP, which tends to be neglected by most of the studies, is one of the vital drivers in determining species coexistence. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-02-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8860893/ /pubmed/35211142 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.832473 Text en Copyright © 2022 Li, Charles, Yang, Du and Fu. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Li, Junyong
Charles, Lachlan S.
Yang, Zhongling
Du, Guozhen
Fu, Shenglei
Differential Mechanisms Drive Species Loss Under Artificial Shade and Fertilization in the Alpine Meadow of the Tibetan Plateau
title Differential Mechanisms Drive Species Loss Under Artificial Shade and Fertilization in the Alpine Meadow of the Tibetan Plateau
title_full Differential Mechanisms Drive Species Loss Under Artificial Shade and Fertilization in the Alpine Meadow of the Tibetan Plateau
title_fullStr Differential Mechanisms Drive Species Loss Under Artificial Shade and Fertilization in the Alpine Meadow of the Tibetan Plateau
title_full_unstemmed Differential Mechanisms Drive Species Loss Under Artificial Shade and Fertilization in the Alpine Meadow of the Tibetan Plateau
title_short Differential Mechanisms Drive Species Loss Under Artificial Shade and Fertilization in the Alpine Meadow of the Tibetan Plateau
title_sort differential mechanisms drive species loss under artificial shade and fertilization in the alpine meadow of the tibetan plateau
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8860893/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35211142
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.832473
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