Journal
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
Volume 14, Issue 3, Pages 615-623Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01512.x
Keywords
aboveground net primary production; carbon; climate change; grasslands; growth form; LAI; MAP; shrublands
Funding
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [GRANTS:13728581, 0823405] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Shrub encroachment into grass-dominated biomes is occurring globally due to a variety of anthropogenic activities, but the consequences for carbon (C) inputs, storage and cycling remain unclear. We studied eight North American graminoid-dominated ecosystems invaded by shrubs, from arctic tundra to Atlantic coastal dunes, to quantify patterns and controls of C inputs via aboveground net primary production (ANPP). Across a fourfold range in mean annual precipitation (MAP), a key regulator of ecosystem C input at the continental scale, shrub invasion decreased ANPP in xeric sites, but dramatically increased ANPP (> 1000 g m(-2)) at high MAP, where shrub patches maintained extraordinarily high leaf area. Concurrently, the relationship between MAP and ANPP shifted from being nonlinear in grasslands to linear in shrublands. Thus, relatively abrupt (< 50 years) shifts in growth form dominance, without changes in resource quantity, can fundamentally alter continental-scale pattern of C inputs and their control by MAP in ways that exceed the direct effects of climate change alone.
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