TY - JOUR

T1 - High resilience in heathland plants to changes in temperature, drought, and CO2 in combination

T2 - results from the CLIMAITE experiment

AU - Nielsen, Jane Kongstad

AU - Schmidt, Inger Kappel

AU - Riis-Nielsen, Torben

AU - Arndal, Marie Frost

AU - Mikkelsen, Teis Nørgaard

AU - Beier, Claus

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - Climate change scenarios predict simultaneously increase in temperature, altered precipitation patterns and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration, which will affect key ecosystem processes and plant growth and species interactions. In a large-scale experiment, we investigated the effects of in situ exposure to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration, increased temperature and prolonged drought periods on the plant biomass in a dry heathland (Brandbjerg, Denmark). Results after 3 years showed that drought reduced the growth of the two dominant species Deschampsia flexuosa and Calluna vulgaris. However, both species recovered quickly after rewetting and the drought had no significant effect on annual aboveground biomass production. We did not observe any effects of increased temperature. Elevated CO2 stimulated the biomass production for D. flexuosa in one out of three years but did not influence the standing biomass for either D. flexuosa or the ecosystem as more litter was produced. Treatment combinations showed little interactions on the measured parameters and in particular elevated CO2 did not counterbalance the drought effect on plant growth, as we had anticipated. The plant community did not show any significant responses to the imposed climate changes and we conclude that the two heathland species, on a short time scale, will be relatively resistant to the changes in climatic conditions.

AB - Climate change scenarios predict simultaneously increase in temperature, altered precipitation patterns and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration, which will affect key ecosystem processes and plant growth and species interactions. In a large-scale experiment, we investigated the effects of in situ exposure to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration, increased temperature and prolonged drought periods on the plant biomass in a dry heathland (Brandbjerg, Denmark). Results after 3 years showed that drought reduced the growth of the two dominant species Deschampsia flexuosa and Calluna vulgaris. However, both species recovered quickly after rewetting and the drought had no significant effect on annual aboveground biomass production. We did not observe any effects of increased temperature. Elevated CO2 stimulated the biomass production for D. flexuosa in one out of three years but did not influence the standing biomass for either D. flexuosa or the ecosystem as more litter was produced. Treatment combinations showed little interactions on the measured parameters and in particular elevated CO2 did not counterbalance the drought effect on plant growth, as we had anticipated. The plant community did not show any significant responses to the imposed climate changes and we conclude that the two heathland species, on a short time scale, will be relatively resistant to the changes in climatic conditions.

U2 - 10.1007/s10021-011-9508-9

DO - 10.1007/s10021-011-9508-9

M3 - Journal article

VL - 15

SP - 269

EP - 283

JO - Ecosystems

JF - Ecosystems

SN - 1432-9840

IS - 2

ER -