Transplants, Open Top Chambers (OTCs) and Gradient Studies Ask Different Questions in Climate Change Effects Studies | |
Yang, Yan1![]() ![]() | |
2018 | |
Source Publication | FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
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ISSN | 1664-462X |
Volume | 9Pages:9 |
Subtype | Article |
Contribution Rank | 1 |
Abstract | Long-term monitoring, space-for-time substitutions along gradients, and in situ temperature manipulations are common approaches to understand effects of climate change on alpine and arctic plant communities. Although general patterns emerge from studies using different approaches, there are also some inconsistencies. To provide better estimates of plant community responses to future warming across a range of environments, there have been repeated calls for integrating different approaches within single studies. Thus, to examine how different methods in climate change effect studies may ask different questions, we combined three climate warming approaches in a single study in the Hengduan Mountains of southwestern China. We monitored plant communities along an elevation gradient using the space-for-time approach, and conducted warming experiments using open top chambers (OTCs) and plant community transplantation toward warmer climates along the same gradient. Plant species richness and abundances were monitored over 5 years addressing two questions: (1) how do plant communities respond to the different climate warming approaches? (2) how can the combined approaches improve predictions of plant community responses to climate change? The general trend across all three approaches was decreased species richness with climate warming at low elevations. This suggests increased competition from immigrating lowland species, and/or from the species already growing inside the plots, as indicated by increased biomass, vegetation height or proportion of graminoids. At the coldest sites, species richness decreased in OTCs and along the gradient, but increased in the transplants, suggesting that plant communities in colder climates are more open to invasion from lowland species, with slow species loss. This was only detected in the transplants, showing that different approaches, may yield different results. Whereas OTCs may constrain immigration of new species, transplanted communities are rapidly exposed to new neighbors that can easily colonize the small plots. Thus, different approaches ask slightly different questions, in particular regarding indirect climate change effects, such as biotic interactions. To better understand both direct and indirect effects of climate change on plant communities, we need to combine approaches in future studies, and if novel interactions are of particular interest, transplants may be a better approach than OTCs. |
Keyword | alpine grasslands experimental warming integrated approaches space-for-time southwestern China |
DOI | 10.3389/fpls.2018.01574 |
Indexed By | SCI |
WOS Keyword | PLANT COMMUNITY RESPONSES ; WARMING EXPERIMENTS ; INTEGRATED APPROACH ; VEGETATION CHANGE ; SPECIES RICHNESS ; TEMPERATURE ; ECOSYSTEMS ; MANIPULATIONS ; DIVERSITY ; PATTERNS |
Language | 英语 |
Quartile | 2区 |
Funding Project | Foundation of Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, CAS ; Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS[QYZDJ-SSW-DQC006] ; 135 Strategic Program of the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment[SDS-135-1707] ; Norwegian Center for International Cooperation in Education (SIU)[UTF-2013/10074] ; Norwegian Center for International Cooperation in Education (SIU)[HNP-2015/10037] |
TOP | 否 |
WOS Research Area | Plant Sciences |
WOS Subject | Plant Sciences |
WOS ID | WOS:000449077300001 |
Funding Organization | Foundation of Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, CAS ; Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS ; 135 Strategic Program of the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment ; Norwegian Center for International Cooperation in Education (SIU) |
Publisher | FRONTIERS MEDIA SA |
Citation statistics | |
Document Type | 期刊论文 |
Identifier | http://ir.imde.ac.cn/handle/131551/24231 |
Collection | 山地表生过程与生态调控重点实验室 |
Corresponding Author | Wang, Genxu |
Affiliation | 1.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Mt Hazards & Environm, Chengdu, Sichuan, Peoples R China 2.Univ Bergen, Dept Biol Sci, Bergen, Norway 3.Univ Bergen, Bjerknes Ctr Climate Res, Bergen, Norway 4.Norwegian Univ Life Sci, Fac Environm Sci & Nat Resource Management, As, Norway |
First Author Affilication | 中国科学院水利部成都山地灾害与环境研究所 |
Corresponding Author Affilication | 中国科学院水利部成都山地灾害与环境研究所 |
Recommended Citation GB/T 7714 | Yang, Yan,Halbritter, Aud H.,Klanderud, Kari,et al. Transplants, Open Top Chambers (OTCs) and Gradient Studies Ask Different Questions in Climate Change Effects Studies[J]. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE,2018,9:9. |
APA | Yang, Yan,Halbritter, Aud H.,Klanderud, Kari,Telford, Richard J.,Wang, Genxu,&Vandvik, Vigdis.(2018).Transplants, Open Top Chambers (OTCs) and Gradient Studies Ask Different Questions in Climate Change Effects Studies.FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE,9,9. |
MLA | Yang, Yan,et al."Transplants, Open Top Chambers (OTCs) and Gradient Studies Ask Different Questions in Climate Change Effects Studies".FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 9(2018):9. |
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