Soil microenvironmental variation drives below‐ground trait variation and interacts with macroclimate to structure above‐ground trait variation of arctic shrubs
Abstract Intraspecific trait variation can influence plant performance in different environments and may thereby determine the ability of individual plants to respond to climate change. However, our understanding of its patterns and environmental drivers across different spatial scales is incomplete...
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crwiley:10.1111/1365-2745.14278 2024-06-02T08:01:59+00:00 Soil microenvironmental variation drives below‐ground trait variation and interacts with macroclimate to structure above‐ground trait variation of arctic shrubs Fraterrigo, Jennifer M. Chen, Weile Loyal, Joshua Euskirchen, Eugénie S. U.S. Department of Energy 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14278 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2745.14278 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Journal of Ecology volume 112, issue 4, page 901-916 ISSN 0022-0477 1365-2745 journal-article 2024 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14278 2024-05-03T11:10:03Z Abstract Intraspecific trait variation can influence plant performance in different environments and may thereby determine the ability of individual plants to respond to climate change. However, our understanding of its patterns and environmental drivers across different spatial scales is incomplete, especially in understudied regions like the Arctic. To fill this knowledge gap, we examined above‐ground and below‐ground traits from three shrub taxa expanding across the tundra biome and evaluated their relationships with multiple microenvironmental and macroclimatic factors. The traits reflected plant size and structure (plant height, leaf area and root to shoot ratio), leaf economics (specific leaf area, nitrogen content), and root economics and collaboration with mycorrhizal fungi (specific root length, root tissue density, nitrogen content, and ectomycorrhizal colonisation intensity). We also measured leaf and root δ 15 N and leaf δ 13 C to characterise nitrogen source and acquisition pathways and plant water stress. Traits were measured in replicated plots ( N = 135) varying in soil microclimate, thaw depth and organic layer thickness established across five sites spanning a macroclimate gradient in northern Alaska. This hierarchical design allowed us to disentangle the independent and combined effects of fine‐scale and broad‐scale factors on intraspecific trait variation. We found substantial intraspecific variation at fine spatial scales for most traits and less variation along the macroclimate gradient and between shrub taxa. Consistent with these patterns, microenvironmental factors, mainly soil moisture and thaw depth, interacted with macroclimate, mainly climatic water deficit, to structure size‐structural and leaf trait variation. In contrast, most root traits responded additively to thaw depth and macroclimate. Synthesis . Our results demonstrate that above‐ground and below‐ground tundra shrub traits respond differently to microenvironmental and macroclimatic variation. These differing responses ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Tundra Alaska Wiley Online Library Arctic Journal of Ecology 112 4 901 916 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Intraspecific trait variation can influence plant performance in different environments and may thereby determine the ability of individual plants to respond to climate change. However, our understanding of its patterns and environmental drivers across different spatial scales is incomplete, especially in understudied regions like the Arctic. To fill this knowledge gap, we examined above‐ground and below‐ground traits from three shrub taxa expanding across the tundra biome and evaluated their relationships with multiple microenvironmental and macroclimatic factors. The traits reflected plant size and structure (plant height, leaf area and root to shoot ratio), leaf economics (specific leaf area, nitrogen content), and root economics and collaboration with mycorrhizal fungi (specific root length, root tissue density, nitrogen content, and ectomycorrhizal colonisation intensity). We also measured leaf and root δ 15 N and leaf δ 13 C to characterise nitrogen source and acquisition pathways and plant water stress. Traits were measured in replicated plots ( N = 135) varying in soil microclimate, thaw depth and organic layer thickness established across five sites spanning a macroclimate gradient in northern Alaska. This hierarchical design allowed us to disentangle the independent and combined effects of fine‐scale and broad‐scale factors on intraspecific trait variation. We found substantial intraspecific variation at fine spatial scales for most traits and less variation along the macroclimate gradient and between shrub taxa. Consistent with these patterns, microenvironmental factors, mainly soil moisture and thaw depth, interacted with macroclimate, mainly climatic water deficit, to structure size‐structural and leaf trait variation. In contrast, most root traits responded additively to thaw depth and macroclimate. Synthesis . Our results demonstrate that above‐ground and below‐ground tundra shrub traits respond differently to microenvironmental and macroclimatic variation. These differing responses ... |
author2 |
U.S. Department of Energy |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fraterrigo, Jennifer M. Chen, Weile Loyal, Joshua Euskirchen, Eugénie S. |
spellingShingle |
Fraterrigo, Jennifer M. Chen, Weile Loyal, Joshua Euskirchen, Eugénie S. Soil microenvironmental variation drives below‐ground trait variation and interacts with macroclimate to structure above‐ground trait variation of arctic shrubs |
author_facet |
Fraterrigo, Jennifer M. Chen, Weile Loyal, Joshua Euskirchen, Eugénie S. |
author_sort |
Fraterrigo, Jennifer M. |
title |
Soil microenvironmental variation drives below‐ground trait variation and interacts with macroclimate to structure above‐ground trait variation of arctic shrubs |
title_short |
Soil microenvironmental variation drives below‐ground trait variation and interacts with macroclimate to structure above‐ground trait variation of arctic shrubs |
title_full |
Soil microenvironmental variation drives below‐ground trait variation and interacts with macroclimate to structure above‐ground trait variation of arctic shrubs |
title_fullStr |
Soil microenvironmental variation drives below‐ground trait variation and interacts with macroclimate to structure above‐ground trait variation of arctic shrubs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Soil microenvironmental variation drives below‐ground trait variation and interacts with macroclimate to structure above‐ground trait variation of arctic shrubs |
title_sort |
soil microenvironmental variation drives below‐ground trait variation and interacts with macroclimate to structure above‐ground trait variation of arctic shrubs |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14278 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2745.14278 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Journal of Ecology volume 112, issue 4, page 901-916 ISSN 0022-0477 1365-2745 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14278 |
container_title |
Journal of Ecology |
container_volume |
112 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
901 |
op_container_end_page |
916 |
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1800746478211170304 |