Soil conditions drive belowground trait space in temperate agricultural grasslands

1. Plant belowground organs perform essential functions, including water and nutrient uptake, anchorage, vegetative reproduction and recruitment of mutualistic soil microbiota. Determining how belowground traits jointly determine dimensions of the trait space and how these dimensions are linked to environmental conditions would further advance our understanding of plant functioning and community assembly. 2. Here, we investigated belowground plant-trait dimensionality and its variation along 10 soil and land-use parameters in 150 temperate grasslands plots. We used eight belowground traits collected in greenhouse and common garden experiments, as well as bud-bank size and specific leaf area from databases, for a total of 313 species, to calculate community weighted means (CWMs). 3. Using PCA, we found that about 55% of variance in CWMs was explained by two main dimensions, corresponding to a mycorrhizal "collaboration" and a resource "conservation" gradient. Frequently overlooked traits such as rooting depth, bud-bank size and root branching intensity were largely integrated in this bidimensional trait space. The two plant-strategy gradients were partially dependent on each other, with outsourcing communities along the "collaboration" gradient being more often "slow". These "outsourcing" communities were also more often deep-rooting, and associated with soil parameters, such as low moisture and sand content, high topsoil pH, high C:N and low 15N. "Slow" communities had large bud-banks and were associated with low land-use intensity, high topsoil pH, and low nitrate but high ammonium concentrations in the soil. We did not find a substantial role of phosphorus-availability as an indicator along the "collaboration" gradient. 4. In conclusion, the "collaboration" and "conservation" gradients previously identified at the species level scale up to community level in grasslands, encompass more traits than previously described, and vary with the environment.

Legacy Effects of Extreme Drought on the Belowground Bud Bank of Bunchgrass and Rhizomatous Steppe Communities in Inner Mongolia

Belowground bud banks play a crucial role in plant population regeneration, community dynamics and ecosystem functions in response to environmental change and disturbance. In mesic grasslands, belowground bud banks are largely resistant to short-term drought. The sensitivity of belowground bud banks to long-term extreme drought in semiarid steppes is less understood. Here, we investigated the legacy effects of a 4-year experimental drought (i.e., 66% reduction in growing season precipitation) on belowground bud density, aboveground shoot density and their relationship (represented by the meristem limitation index-MLI) in two temperate semiarid steppes with different dominated plant growth forms (i.e., bunchgrass vs. rhizomatous grass). Measurements were made during the first recovery year following drought; thus, we reported the legacy effects of drought on belowground bud bank. Results showed that at community level the densities of both belowground buds and aboveground shoots decreased while there was no change in MLI. However, drought had no significant influences on belowground buds, aboveground shoots and MLI of the dominant plant growth form. The legacy effects of drought were largely dependent on plant community type and growth form. Specifically, due to their cluster/phalanx clonal growth, bunchgrasses and communities they dominated were characterized by greater meristem limitation compared with rhizomatous grasses. Our study implies that integrating belowground bud bank demography into the predictive model of community dynamics and ecosystem functions in response to climate change should be considered to understand the differing responses among community type and dominant plant groups.

Disentangling the Ecological Determinants of Species and Functional Trait Diversity in Herb-Layer Plant Communities in European Temperate Forests

Forest herb-layer vegetation responds sensitively to environmental conditions. This paper compares drivers of both taxonomic, i.e., species richness, cover and evenness, and functional herb-layer diversity, i.e., the diversity of clonal, bud bank and leaf-height-seed plant traits. We investigated the dependence of herb-layer diversity on ecological determinants related to soil properties, climatic parameters, forest stand characteristics, and topographic and abiotic and biotic factors associated with forest floor structure. The study was conducted in different forest types in Slovenia, using vegetation and environmental data from 50 monitoring plots (400 m2 each) belonging to the ICP Forests Level I and II network. The main objective was to first identify significant ecological predictors and then quantify their relative importance. Species richness was strongly determined by forest stand characteristics, such as richness of the shrub layer, tree layer shade-casting ability as a proxy for light availability and tree species composition. It showed a clear positive relation to soil pH. Variation in herb-layer cover was also best explained by forest stand characteristics and, to a lesser extent, by structural factors such as moss cover. Species evenness was associated with tree species composition, shrub layer cover and soil pH. Various ecological determinants were decisive for the diversity of below-ground traits, i.e., clonal and bud bank traits. For these two trait groups we observed a substantial climatic signal that was completely absent for taxonomy-based measures of diversity. In contrast, above-ground leaf-height-seed (LHS) traits were driven exclusively by soil reaction and nitrogen availability. In synthesis, local stand characteristics and soil properties acted as the main controlling factors for both species and trait diversity in herb-layer communities across Slovenia, confirming many previous studies. Our findings suggest that the taxonomic and functional facets of herb-layer vegetation are mainly influenced by a similar set of ecological determinants. However, their relative importance varies among individual taxonomy- and functional trait-based diversity measures. Integrating multi-faceted approaches can provide complementary information on patterns of herb-layer diversity in European forest plant communities.

Responses of Plant Bud Bank Characteristics to the Enclosure in Different Desertified Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau

Asexual reproduction is the main mode of alpine plant reproduction, and buds play an important role in plant community succession. The purpose of this study is to explore whether the desertified grassland can recover itself through the existing bud bank. The bud bank composition, distribution and size of different desertified grasslands were studied using unit volume excavation on the Tibetan Plateau. The bud bank consisted of tiller, long and short rhizome buds, and more than 40% of buds were distributed in the 0–10 cm soil layer. Enclosure changed the bud density, distribution and composition. The bud densities were 4327 and 2681 No./m2 in light and middle desertified grasslands before enclosure, while that decreased to 3833 and 2567 No./m2 after enclosure. Tiller bud density and proportion of middle desertified grassland were the highest, increased from 2765 (31.26%, before enclosure) to 5556 No./m3 (62.67%, after enclosure). There were new grasses growing out in the extreme desertified grassland after enclosure. The meristem limitation index of moderate desertified grassland was the lowest (0.37), indicating that plant renewal was limited by bud bank. Plants constantly adjust the bud bank composition, distribution, and asexual reproduction strategy, and desertified grasslands can recover naturally, relying on their bud banks through an enclosure.

Temporal-spatial changes in the belowground bud bank in interdune lowlands of an active sand dune ecosystem in northeastern China

Aims The belowground bud bank plays an important role in vegetation restoration of sand dune ecosystems in semi-arid regions. However, few studies have focused on the temporal-spatial changes of belowground bud banks in interdune lowlands. Methods The size and composition of belowground bud bank in five interdune lowlands with different sizes were investigated for one growing season to determine the temporal and spatial changes in belowground bud bank. Important Findings Total bud bank density was the highest in the medium-sized interdune lowland as was tiller bud density. The density of stem-base buds exhibited an opposite trend while rhizome bud density did not change with interdune lowland size. There was a significant seasonal change in the bud bank size. The total bud density peaked in August and was the lowest in October. A similar trend was found for rhizome bud density, whereas the density of stem-base buds showed an opposite trend, and tiller bud density did not change significantly during the growing season. We conclude that the belowground bud bank density is changed with interdune lowland size and season. These results contribute to the understanding of adaptive strategies of plants growing in active dune ecosystems and provide pointers for adopting effective measures to restore and conserve dune vegetation in semi-arid regions.

Structural Features of Carnivorous Plant (Genlisea, Utricularia) Tubers as Abiotic Stress Resistance Organs

Carnivorous plants from the Lentibulariaceae form a variety of standard and novel vegetative organs and survive unfavorable environmental conditions. Within Genlisea, only G. tuberosa, from the Brazilian Cerrado, formed tubers, while Utricularia menziesii is the only member of the genus to form seasonally dormant tubers. We aimed to examine and compare the tuber structure of two taxonomically and phylogenetically divergent terrestrial carnivorous plants: Genlisea tuberosa and Utricularia menziesii. Additionally, we analyzed tubers of U. mannii. We constructed phylogenetic trees using chloroplast genes matK/trnK and rbcL and used studied characters for ancestral state reconstruction. All examined species contained mainly starch as histologically observable reserves. The ancestral state reconstruction showed that specialized organs such as turions evolved once and tubers at least 12 times from stolons in Lentibulariaceae. Different from other clades, tubers probably evolved from thick stolons for sect. Orchidioides and both structures are primarily water storage structures. In contrast to species from section Orchidioides, G. tuberosa, U. menziesii and U. mannii form starchy tubers. In G. tuberosa and U. menziesii, underground tubers provide a perennating bud bank that protects the species in their fire-prone and seasonally desiccating environments.