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| Titel |
Biomass production in experimental grasslands of different species richness during three years of climate warming |
| VerfasserIn |
H. J. Boeck, C. M. H. M. Lemmens, C. Zavalloni, B. Gielen, S. Malchair, M. Carnol, R. Merckx, J. Berge, R. Ceulemans, I. Nijs |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1726-4170
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Biogeosciences ; 5, no. 2 ; Nr. 5, no. 2 (2008-04-21), S.585-594 |
| Datensatznummer |
250002387
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/bg-5-585-2008.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Here we report on the single and combined impacts of climate warming and
species richness on the biomass production in experimental grassland
communities. Projections of a future warmer climate have stimulated studies
on the response of terrestrial ecosystems to this global change. Experiments
have likewise addressed the importance of species numbers for ecosystem
functioning. There is, however, little knowledge on the interplay between
warming and species richness. During three years, we grew experimental plant
communities containing one, three or nine grassland species in 12 sunlit,
climate-controlled chambers in Wilrijk, Belgium. Half of these chambers were
exposed to ambient air temperatures (unheated), while the other half were
warmed by 3°C (heated). Equal amounts of water were added to heated and
unheated communities, so that warming would imply drier soils if
evapotranspiration was higher. Biomass production was decreased due to
warming, both aboveground (–29%) and belowground (–25%), as negative
impacts of increased heat and drought stress in summer prevailed.
Complementarity effects, likely mostly through both increased aboveground
spatial complementarity and facilitative effects of legumes, led to higher
shoot and root biomass in multi-species communities, regardless of the
induced warming. Surprisingly, warming suppressed productivity the most in
9-species communities, which may be attributed to negative impacts of
intense interspecific competition for resources under conditions of high
abiotic stress. Our results suggest that warming and the associated soil
drying could reduce primary production in many temperate grasslands, and
that this will not necessarily be mitigated by efforts to maintain or
increase species richness. |
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