Vegetation shift from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to selective herbivory offsets carbon losses: evidence from 19 years of warming and simulated herbivory in the subarctic tundra
Abstract Selective herbivory of palatable plant species provides a competitive advantage for unpalatable plant species, which often have slow growth rates and produce slowly decomposable litter. We hypothesized that through a shift in the vegetation community from palatable, deciduous dwarf shrubs t...
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crwiley:10.1111/gcb.12964 2024-09-30T14:34:26+00:00 Vegetation shift from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to selective herbivory offsets carbon losses: evidence from 19 years of warming and simulated herbivory in the subarctic tundra Ylänne, Henni Stark, Sari Tolvanen, Anne Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12964 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.12964 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.12964 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Global Change Biology volume 21, issue 10, page 3696-3711 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 journal-article 2015 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12964 2024-09-17T04:52:08Z Abstract Selective herbivory of palatable plant species provides a competitive advantage for unpalatable plant species, which often have slow growth rates and produce slowly decomposable litter. We hypothesized that through a shift in the vegetation community from palatable, deciduous dwarf shrubs to unpalatable, evergreen dwarf shrubs, selective herbivory may counteract the increased shrub abundance that is otherwise found in tundra ecosystems, in turn interacting with the responses of ecosystem carbon (C) stocks and CO 2 balance to climatic warming. We tested this hypothesis in a 19‐year field experiment with factorial treatments of warming and simulated herbivory on the dominant deciduous dwarf shrub Vaccinium myrtillus . Warming was associated with a significantly increased vegetation abundance, with the strongest effect on deciduous dwarf shrubs, resulting in greater rates of both gross ecosystem production ( GEP ) and ecosystem respiration ( ER ) as well as increased C stocks. Simulated herbivory increased the abundance of evergreen dwarf shrubs, most importantly Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum, which led to a recent shift in the dominant vegetation from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs. Simulated herbivory caused no effect on GEP and ER or the total ecosystem C stocks, indicating that the vegetation shift counteracted the herbivore‐induced C loss from the system. A larger proportion of the total ecosystem C stock was found aboveground, rather than belowground, in plots treated with simulated herbivory. We conclude that by providing a competitive advantage to unpalatable plant species with slow growth rates and long life spans, selective herbivory may promote aboveground C stocks in a warming tundra ecosystem and, through this mechanism, counteract C losses that result from plant biomass consumption. Article in Journal/Newspaper Empetrum nigrum Subarctic Tundra Wiley Online Library Global Change Biology 21 10 3696 3711 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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English |
description |
Abstract Selective herbivory of palatable plant species provides a competitive advantage for unpalatable plant species, which often have slow growth rates and produce slowly decomposable litter. We hypothesized that through a shift in the vegetation community from palatable, deciduous dwarf shrubs to unpalatable, evergreen dwarf shrubs, selective herbivory may counteract the increased shrub abundance that is otherwise found in tundra ecosystems, in turn interacting with the responses of ecosystem carbon (C) stocks and CO 2 balance to climatic warming. We tested this hypothesis in a 19‐year field experiment with factorial treatments of warming and simulated herbivory on the dominant deciduous dwarf shrub Vaccinium myrtillus . Warming was associated with a significantly increased vegetation abundance, with the strongest effect on deciduous dwarf shrubs, resulting in greater rates of both gross ecosystem production ( GEP ) and ecosystem respiration ( ER ) as well as increased C stocks. Simulated herbivory increased the abundance of evergreen dwarf shrubs, most importantly Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum, which led to a recent shift in the dominant vegetation from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs. Simulated herbivory caused no effect on GEP and ER or the total ecosystem C stocks, indicating that the vegetation shift counteracted the herbivore‐induced C loss from the system. A larger proportion of the total ecosystem C stock was found aboveground, rather than belowground, in plots treated with simulated herbivory. We conclude that by providing a competitive advantage to unpalatable plant species with slow growth rates and long life spans, selective herbivory may promote aboveground C stocks in a warming tundra ecosystem and, through this mechanism, counteract C losses that result from plant biomass consumption. |
author2 |
Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ylänne, Henni Stark, Sari Tolvanen, Anne |
spellingShingle |
Ylänne, Henni Stark, Sari Tolvanen, Anne Vegetation shift from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to selective herbivory offsets carbon losses: evidence from 19 years of warming and simulated herbivory in the subarctic tundra |
author_facet |
Ylänne, Henni Stark, Sari Tolvanen, Anne |
author_sort |
Ylänne, Henni |
title |
Vegetation shift from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to selective herbivory offsets carbon losses: evidence from 19 years of warming and simulated herbivory in the subarctic tundra |
title_short |
Vegetation shift from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to selective herbivory offsets carbon losses: evidence from 19 years of warming and simulated herbivory in the subarctic tundra |
title_full |
Vegetation shift from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to selective herbivory offsets carbon losses: evidence from 19 years of warming and simulated herbivory in the subarctic tundra |
title_fullStr |
Vegetation shift from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to selective herbivory offsets carbon losses: evidence from 19 years of warming and simulated herbivory in the subarctic tundra |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vegetation shift from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to selective herbivory offsets carbon losses: evidence from 19 years of warming and simulated herbivory in the subarctic tundra |
title_sort |
vegetation shift from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to selective herbivory offsets carbon losses: evidence from 19 years of warming and simulated herbivory in the subarctic tundra |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12964 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.12964 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.12964 |
genre |
Empetrum nigrum Subarctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Empetrum nigrum Subarctic Tundra |
op_source |
Global Change Biology volume 21, issue 10, page 3696-3711 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12964 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
21 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
3696 |
op_container_end_page |
3711 |
_version_ |
1811638050457911296 |