Journal
ANNALS OF BOTANY
Volume 116, Issue 6, Pages 1017-1022Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcu230
Keywords
Plant community change; climate change; climate resistance; climate resilience; soil fertility; stress tolerance; plant functional traits; serpentine soil; specific leaf area; biogeographical affinity; topographic affinity; Klamath-Siskiyou
Categories
Funding
- NSF [1439246]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [0947432] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1439246] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Background and Aims Much evidence suggests that plant communities on infertile soils are relatively insensitive to increased water deficit caused by increasing temperature and/or decreasing precipitation. However, a multidecadal study of community change in the western USA does not support this conclusion. This paper tests explanations related to macroclimatic differences, overstorey effects on microclimate, variation in soil texture and plant functional traits. Methods A re-analysis was undertaken of the changes in the multi-decadal study, which concerned forest understorey communities on infertile (serpentine) and fertile soils in an aridifying climate (southern Oregan) from 1949-1951 to 2007-2008. Macroclimatic variables, overstorey cover and soil texture were used as new covariates. As an alternative measure of climate-related change, the community mean value of specific leaf area was used, a functional trait measuring drought tolerance. We investigated whether these revised analyses supported the prediction of lesser sensitivity to climate change in understorey communities on infertile serpentine soils. Key Results Overstorey cover, but not macroclimate or soil texture, was a significant covariate of community change over time. It strongly buffered understorey temperatures, was correlated with less change and averaged > 50 % lower on serpentine soils, thereby counteracting the lower climate sensitivity of understorey herbs on these soils. Community mean specific leaf area showed the predicted pattern of less change over time in serpentine than non-serpentine communities. Conclusions Based on the current balance of evidence, plant communities on infertile serpentine soils are less sensitive to changes in the climatic water balance than communities on more fertile soils. However, this advantage may in some cases be lessened by their sparser overstorey cover.
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