A research team led by Prof. LIU Lingli from the Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has revealed the critical role of plants water use strategies in how winter snowfall stabilizes the productivity in semi-arid grasslands.
The findings, published in Ecology, provides compelling evidence that plant communities can optimize water acquisition and utilization, thereby enhancing the stability of biomass production through coordinated changes in plant physiology, species reordering, and root distribution under altered snow regimes.
In this study, the researchers conducted a five-year snow manipulated experiment in Inner Mongolia and combined with the paired stable isotope measurements of δ18O and δ13C of 32 species in temperate grasslands. They found that deepened snow cover enhanced the ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE), thereby promoting grassland productivity and its stability. Notably, this effect of deepened snow could persist until the peak and later growing season.
The improvement in productivity stability was closely linked to diverse behaviors of plant stomata. Additionally, communities with more grasses tend to exhibit higher stability, because grasses can respond rapidly to environmental changes. Deepened snow intensified water loss from transpiration via higher stomatal conductance, whereas grasses were still able to maintain a high WUE to stabilize the productivity through enhanced photosynthetic capacity. Deepened snow also increased the root biomass, improving plants' ability to obtain more water and further promoting the productivity stability.
This research provides valuable insights into how grassland productivity adapts to climate change through shifts in water-use strategies. These findings also emphasize the potential diverse ecological impacts resulting from shifts in snow regimes, especially in water-limited ecosystems.
Plants' water use strategies in how winter snowfall stabilizes productivity in semi-arid grasslands (Image credits: LI Ping and JALAID Nairsag).
A research team led by Prof. LIU Lingli from the Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has revealed the critical role of plants water use strategies in how winter snowfall stabilizes the productivity in semi-arid grasslands.
The findings, published in Ecology, provides compelling evidence that plant communities can optimize water acquisition and utilization, thereby enhancing the stability of biomass production through coordinated changes in plant physiology, species reordering, and root distribution under altered snow regimes.
In this study, the researchers conducted a five-year snow manipulated experiment in Inner Mongolia and combined with the paired stable isotope measurements of δ18O and δ13C of 32 species in temperate grasslands. They found that deepened snow cover enhanced the ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE), thereby promoting grassland productivity and its stability. Notably, this effect of deepened snow could persist until the peak and later growing season.
The improvement in productivity stability was closely linked to diverse behaviors of plant stomata. Additionally, communities with more grasses tend to exhibit higher stability, because grasses can respond rapidly to environmental changes. Deepened snow intensified water loss from transpiration via higher stomatal conductance, whereas grasses were still able to maintain a high WUE to stabilize the productivity through enhanced photosynthetic capacity. Deepened snow also increased the root biomass, improving plants' ability to obtain more water and further promoting the productivity stability.
This research provides valuable insights into how grassland productivity adapts to climate change through shifts in water-use strategies. These findings also emphasize the potential diverse ecological impacts resulting from shifts in snow regimes, especially in water-limited ecosystems.
Plants' water use strategies in how winter snowfall stabilizes productivity in semi-arid grasslands (Image credits: LI Ping and JALAID Nairsag).