TY - JOUR
T1 - Stoichiometric homeostasis predicts plant species dominance, temporal stability, and responses to global change
AU - Yu, Qiang
AU - Wilcox, Kevin
AU - Pierre, Kimberly La
AU - Knapp, Alan K
AU - Han, Xingguo
AU - Smith, Melinda D
PY - 2015/9/1
Y1 - 2015/9/1
N2 - Why some species are consistently more abundant than others, and predicting how species will respond to global change, are fundamental questions in ecology. Long-term observations indicate that plant species with high stoichiometric homeostasis for nitrogen (HN), i.e., the ability to decouple foliar N levels from variation in soil N availability, were more common and stable through time than low-HN species in a central U.S. grassland. However, with nine years of nitrogen addition, species with high HN decreased in abundance, while those with low HN increased in abundance. In contrast, in climate change experiments simulating a range of forecast hydrologic changes, e.g., extreme drought (two years), increased rainfall variability (14 years), and chronic increases in rainfall (21 years), plant species with the highest HN were least responsive to changes in soil water availability. These results suggest that HN may be predictive of plant species success and stability, and how plant species and ecosystems will respond to global-change-driven alterations in resource availability.
AB - Why some species are consistently more abundant than others, and predicting how species will respond to global change, are fundamental questions in ecology. Long-term observations indicate that plant species with high stoichiometric homeostasis for nitrogen (HN), i.e., the ability to decouple foliar N levels from variation in soil N availability, were more common and stable through time than low-HN species in a central U.S. grassland. However, with nine years of nitrogen addition, species with high HN decreased in abundance, while those with low HN increased in abundance. In contrast, in climate change experiments simulating a range of forecast hydrologic changes, e.g., extreme drought (two years), increased rainfall variability (14 years), and chronic increases in rainfall (21 years), plant species with the highest HN were least responsive to changes in soil water availability. These results suggest that HN may be predictive of plant species success and stability, and how plant species and ecosystems will respond to global-change-driven alterations in resource availability.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84942255543&doi=10.1890%2f14-1897.1&partnerID=40&md5=b669b809f3cf14b24b956b350d1e4b4c
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84942255543&doi=10.1890%2f14-1897.1&partnerID=40&md5=b669b809f3cf14b24b956b350d1e4b4c
M3 - Article
SN - 0012-9658
VL - 96
SP - 2328
EP - 2335
JO - Ecology
JF - Ecology
IS - 9
ER -