No evidence of complementary water use along a plant species richness gradient in temperate experimental grasslands.
Niche complementarity in resource use has been proposed as a key mechanism to explain the positive effects of increasing plant species richness on ecosystem processes, in particular on primary productivity. Since hardly any information is available for niche complementarity in water use, we tested t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4294640?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818037276516548608 |
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| author | Dörte Bachmann Annette Gockele Janneke M Ravenek Christiane Roscher Tanja Strecker Alexandra Weigelt Nina Buchmann |
| author_facet | Dörte Bachmann Annette Gockele Janneke M Ravenek Christiane Roscher Tanja Strecker Alexandra Weigelt Nina Buchmann |
| author_sort | Dörte Bachmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Niche complementarity in resource use has been proposed as a key mechanism to explain the positive effects of increasing plant species richness on ecosystem processes, in particular on primary productivity. Since hardly any information is available for niche complementarity in water use, we tested the effects of plant diversity on spatial and temporal complementarity in water uptake in experimental grasslands by using stable water isotopes. We hypothesized that water uptake from deeper soil depths increases in more diverse compared to low diverse plant species mixtures. We labeled soil water in 8 cm (with 18O) and 28 cm depth (with ²H) three times during the 2011 growing season in 40 temperate grassland communities of varying species richness (2, 4, 8 and 16 species) and functional group number and composition (legumes, grasses, tall herbs, small herbs). Stable isotope analyses of xylem and soil water allowed identifying the preferential depth of water uptake. Higher enrichment in 18O of xylem water than in ²H suggested that the main water uptake was in the upper soil layer. Furthermore, our results revealed no differences in root water uptake among communities with different species richness, different number of functional groups or with time. Thus, our results do not support the hypothesis of increased complementarity in water use in more diverse than in less diverse communities of temperate grassland species. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T07:24:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc4f3ec0400945e38e12fce36f9be667 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T07:24:16Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc4f3ec0400945e38e12fce36f9be6672022-12-22T01:57:45ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01101e011636710.1371/journal.pone.0116367No evidence of complementary water use along a plant species richness gradient in temperate experimental grasslands.Dörte BachmannAnnette GockeleJanneke M RavenekChristiane RoscherTanja StreckerAlexandra WeigeltNina BuchmannNiche complementarity in resource use has been proposed as a key mechanism to explain the positive effects of increasing plant species richness on ecosystem processes, in particular on primary productivity. Since hardly any information is available for niche complementarity in water use, we tested the effects of plant diversity on spatial and temporal complementarity in water uptake in experimental grasslands by using stable water isotopes. We hypothesized that water uptake from deeper soil depths increases in more diverse compared to low diverse plant species mixtures. We labeled soil water in 8 cm (with 18O) and 28 cm depth (with ²H) three times during the 2011 growing season in 40 temperate grassland communities of varying species richness (2, 4, 8 and 16 species) and functional group number and composition (legumes, grasses, tall herbs, small herbs). Stable isotope analyses of xylem and soil water allowed identifying the preferential depth of water uptake. Higher enrichment in 18O of xylem water than in ²H suggested that the main water uptake was in the upper soil layer. Furthermore, our results revealed no differences in root water uptake among communities with different species richness, different number of functional groups or with time. Thus, our results do not support the hypothesis of increased complementarity in water use in more diverse than in less diverse communities of temperate grassland species.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4294640?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Dörte Bachmann Annette Gockele Janneke M Ravenek Christiane Roscher Tanja Strecker Alexandra Weigelt Nina Buchmann No evidence of complementary water use along a plant species richness gradient in temperate experimental grasslands. PLoS ONE |
| title | No evidence of complementary water use along a plant species richness gradient in temperate experimental grasslands. |
| title_full | No evidence of complementary water use along a plant species richness gradient in temperate experimental grasslands. |
| title_fullStr | No evidence of complementary water use along a plant species richness gradient in temperate experimental grasslands. |
| title_full_unstemmed | No evidence of complementary water use along a plant species richness gradient in temperate experimental grasslands. |
| title_short | No evidence of complementary water use along a plant species richness gradient in temperate experimental grasslands. |
| title_sort | no evidence of complementary water use along a plant species richness gradient in temperate experimental grasslands |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4294640?pdf=render |
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