Exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities
The effects of temperature and precipitation, and the impacts of changes in these climatic conditions, on plant communities have been investigated extensively. The roles of other climatic factors are, however, comparatively poorly understood, despite potentially also strongly structuring community p...
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ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/340195 2024-01-07T09:38:26+01:00 Exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities Momberg, Mia Hedding, David W. Luoto, Miska le Roux, Peter C. Department of Geosciences and Geography BioGeoClimate Modelling Lab Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) 2022-02-12T23:23:33Z 16 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10138/340195 eng eng Wiley 10.1111/1365-2745.13625 National Research Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 93077, 110726 and 110723 Momberg , M , Hedding , D W , Luoto , M & le Roux , P C 2021 , ' Exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities ' , Journal of Ecology , vol. 109 , no. 5 , pp. 2121-2136 . https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13625 ORCID: /0000-0001-6203-5143/work/96623155 1a88929d-d568-4fd2-8e95-bb6f0d039d9d http://hdl.handle.net/10138/340195 000624971100001 openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess community composition fine scale plant community species richness vegetation cover wind 1181 Ecology evolutionary biology 11831 Plant biology Article acceptedVersion 2022 ftunivhelsihelda 2023-12-14T00:04:40Z The effects of temperature and precipitation, and the impacts of changes in these climatic conditions, on plant communities have been investigated extensively. The roles of other climatic factors are, however, comparatively poorly understood, despite potentially also strongly structuring community patterns. Wind, for example, is seldom considered when forecasting species responses to climate change, despite having direct physiological and mechanical impacts on plants. It is, therefore, important to understand the magnitude of potential impacts of changing wind conditions on plant communities, particularly given that wind patterns are shifting globally. Here, we examine the relationship between wind stress (i.e. a combination of wind exposure and wind speed) and species richness, vegetation cover and community composition using fine-scale, field-collected data from 1,440 quadrats in a windy sub-Antarctic environment. Wind stress was consistently a strong predictor of all three community characteristics, even after accounting for other potentially ecophysiologically important variables, including pH, potential direct incident solar radiation, winter and summer soil temperature, soil moisture, soil depth and rock cover. Plant species richness peaked at intermediate wind stress, and vegetation cover was highest in plots with the greatest wind stress. Community composition was also related to wind stress, and, after the influence of soil moisture and pH, had a similar strength of effect as winter soil temperature. Synthesis. Wind conditions are, therefore, clearly related to plant community characteristics in this ecosystem that experiences chronic winds. Based on these findings, wind conditions require greater attention when examining environment-community relationships, and changing wind patterns should be explicitly considered in climate change impact predictions. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository Antarctic Journal of Ecology 109 5 2121 2136 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivhelsihelda |
language |
English |
topic |
community composition fine scale plant community species richness vegetation cover wind 1181 Ecology evolutionary biology 11831 Plant biology |
spellingShingle |
community composition fine scale plant community species richness vegetation cover wind 1181 Ecology evolutionary biology 11831 Plant biology Momberg, Mia Hedding, David W. Luoto, Miska le Roux, Peter C. Exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities |
topic_facet |
community composition fine scale plant community species richness vegetation cover wind 1181 Ecology evolutionary biology 11831 Plant biology |
description |
The effects of temperature and precipitation, and the impacts of changes in these climatic conditions, on plant communities have been investigated extensively. The roles of other climatic factors are, however, comparatively poorly understood, despite potentially also strongly structuring community patterns. Wind, for example, is seldom considered when forecasting species responses to climate change, despite having direct physiological and mechanical impacts on plants. It is, therefore, important to understand the magnitude of potential impacts of changing wind conditions on plant communities, particularly given that wind patterns are shifting globally. Here, we examine the relationship between wind stress (i.e. a combination of wind exposure and wind speed) and species richness, vegetation cover and community composition using fine-scale, field-collected data from 1,440 quadrats in a windy sub-Antarctic environment. Wind stress was consistently a strong predictor of all three community characteristics, even after accounting for other potentially ecophysiologically important variables, including pH, potential direct incident solar radiation, winter and summer soil temperature, soil moisture, soil depth and rock cover. Plant species richness peaked at intermediate wind stress, and vegetation cover was highest in plots with the greatest wind stress. Community composition was also related to wind stress, and, after the influence of soil moisture and pH, had a similar strength of effect as winter soil temperature. Synthesis. Wind conditions are, therefore, clearly related to plant community characteristics in this ecosystem that experiences chronic winds. Based on these findings, wind conditions require greater attention when examining environment-community relationships, and changing wind patterns should be explicitly considered in climate change impact predictions. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
Department of Geosciences and Geography BioGeoClimate Modelling Lab Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Momberg, Mia Hedding, David W. Luoto, Miska le Roux, Peter C. |
author_facet |
Momberg, Mia Hedding, David W. Luoto, Miska le Roux, Peter C. |
author_sort |
Momberg, Mia |
title |
Exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities |
title_short |
Exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities |
title_full |
Exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities |
title_fullStr |
Exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities |
title_sort |
exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/340195 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_relation |
10.1111/1365-2745.13625 National Research Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 93077, 110726 and 110723 Momberg , M , Hedding , D W , Luoto , M & le Roux , P C 2021 , ' Exposing wind stress as a driver of fine-scale variation in plant communities ' , Journal of Ecology , vol. 109 , no. 5 , pp. 2121-2136 . https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13625 ORCID: /0000-0001-6203-5143/work/96623155 1a88929d-d568-4fd2-8e95-bb6f0d039d9d http://hdl.handle.net/10138/340195 000624971100001 |
op_rights |
openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
container_title |
Journal of Ecology |
container_volume |
109 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
2121 |
op_container_end_page |
2136 |
_version_ |
1787423167266947072 |