Climatic events inducing die-off in Mediterranean shrublands : are species' responses related to their functional traits ?
Lloret Maya, Francisco (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
García de la Riva, Enrique (Universidad de Córdoba. Área de Ecología)
Pérez-Ramos, Ignacio M. (Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología)
Marañón, Teodoro (Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología)
Saura Mas, Sandra (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Díaz-Delgado, Ricardo (Estación Biológica de Doñana)
Villar, Rafael (Universidad de Córdoba. Área de Ecología)

Date:	2016
Abstract:	Extreme climatic episodes, likely associated with climate change, often result in profound alterations of ecosystems and, particularly, in drastic events of vegetation die-off. Species attributes are expected to explain different biological responses to these environmental alterations. Here we explored how changes in plant cover and recruitment in response to an extreme climatic episode of drought and low temperatures were related to a set of functional traits (of leaves, roots and seeds) in Mediterranean shrubland species of south-west Spain. Remaining aerial green cover 2 years after the climatic event was positively related to specific leaf area (SLA), and negatively to leaf water potential, stable carbon isotope ratio and leaf proline content. However, plant cover resilience, i. e. the ability to attain pre-event values, was positively related to a syndrome of traits distinguished by a higher efficiency of water use and uptake. Thus, higher SLA and lower water-use efficiency characterized species that were able to maintain green biomass for a longer period of time but were less resilient in the medium term. There was a negative relationship between such syndromes and the number of emerging seedlings. Species with small seeds produced more seedlings per adult. Overall, recruitment was positively correlated with species die-off. This study demonstrates the relationship between plant traits and strong environmental pulses related to climate change, providing a functional interpretation of the recently reported episodes of climate-induced vegetation die-off. Our findings reveal the importance of selecting meaningful traits to interpret post-event resilience processes, particularly when combined with demographic attributes.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL2012-32965 Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia CGL2011-30285-C02-01 Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia CGL2011-30285-C02-02 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2009-08101 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2009/SGR-00247 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-453
Note:	Altres ajuts: ICTS-RBD 38/2007
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Climate change ; Drought ; Extreme climate episode ; Recruitment ; Resilience
Published in:	Oecologia, Vol. 180, issue 4, p. 961-973 (April 2016) , ISSN 1432-1939

DOI: 10.1007/s00442-016-3550-4

Postprint 37 p, 1.9 MB

Material Suplementari 5 p, 4.3 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles