Tag: Plants

A Comparison of Frugivory and Scatter-Hoarding Seed-Dispersal Syndromes

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Author: Vander Wall, Stephen B.; Beck, Maurie J. Description: Frugivory (animals ingest all or part of fleshy-fruits and defecate or regurgitate seeds) and scatter-hoarding (animals store seeds in small caches in soil) are two important vertebrate-mediated seed dispersal syndromes. In both instances, there is an exchange of food for seed transport, but there are many important differences. For example, the seeds of frugivore-dispersed plants are often clumped in feces or under roosts and the microsite of depostion is often unsuitable for seedling establishment. However, frugivores can transport seeds long distances…

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Predicting species’ maximum dispersal distances from simple plant traits

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Author: Tamme, R; Gotzenberger, L; Zobel, M; Bullock, JM; Hooftman, DA; Kaasik, A; Partel, M Description: Many studies have shown plant species’ dispersal distances to be strongly related to life-history traits, but how well different traits can predict dispersal distances is not yet known. We used cross-validation techniques and a global data set (576 plant species) to measure the predictive power of simple plant traits to estimate species’ maximum dispersal distances. Including dispersal syndrome (wind, animal, ant, ballistic, and no special syndrome), growth form (tree, shrub, herb), seed mass, seed…

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Estimating the capacity of Chamaecrista fasciculata for adaptation to change in precipitation

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Author: Peschel, AR; Boehm, EL; Shaw, RG Description: Adaptation through natural selection may be the only means by which small and fragmented plant populations will persist through present day environmental change. A population’s additive genetic variance for fitness (V(A) (W)) represents its immediate capacity to adapt to the environment in which it exists. We evaluated this property for a population of the annual legume Chamaecrista fasciculata through a quantitative genetic experiment in the tallgrass prairie region of the Midwestern United States, where changing climate is predicted to include more variability…

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Climate and Developmental Plasticity: Interannual Variability in Grapevine Leaf Morphology

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Author: Chitwood, DH; Rundell, SM; Li, DY; Woodford, QL; Yu, TT; Lopez, JR; Greenblatt, D; Kang, J; Londo, JP Description: The shapes of leaves are dynamic, changing over evolutionary time between species, within a single plant producing different shaped leaves at successive nodes, during the development of a single leaf as it allometrically expands, and in response to the environment. Notably, strong correlations between the dissection and size of leaves with temperature and precipitation exist in both the paleorecord and extant populations. Yet, a morphometric model integrating evolutionary, developmental, and…

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Soil Organic Matter and Nutrient Availability Responses to Reduced Plant Inputs in Shortgrass Steppe

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Author: Kelly, Robin H.; Burke, Ingrid C.; Lauenroth, William K. Description: We examined soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics in a shortgrass steppe ecosystem along spatial gradients in plant inputs and temporal gradients in disturbance age because a better understanding of decay characteristics of SOM pools may improve our ability to predict ecosystem responses to perturbation. We assessed measurable pools of SOM that are thought to correspond to active, intermediate, and passive SOM based upon turnover characteristics in three separate experiments. In a first, we evaluated SOM pools along a spatial…

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Landscape Patterns in Soil-Plant Water Relations and Primary Production in Tallgrass Prairie

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Author: Knapp, A. K.; Fahnestock, J. T.; Hamburg, S. P.; Statland, L. B.; Seastedt, T. R.; Schimel, D. S. Description: Landscape variation in soil water relations, leaf xylem pressure potential (°) and leaf-level net photosynthesis (A) in Andropogon gerardii, and net primary production (NPP) were evaluated during the 1989 and 1990 growing seasons in a northeast Kansas (USA) tallgrass prairie. Landscape patterns were assessed along transects that spanned upland and lowland topographic positions in an annually burned and a long-term unburned watershed. Landscape variability in volumetric soil water content (°)…

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Oak Tree Effects on Soil and Herbaceous Vegetation in Savannas and Pastures in Wisconsin

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Author: Ko, Leonora J.; Reich, Peter B. Description: To study tree/nontree interactions, soil characteristics, aboveground biomass and plant composition were compared in areas under and adjacent to canopies of open grown bur oaks (Quercus macrocarpa) and northern pin oak x black oak hybrids (Q. ellipsoidalis x velutina) in two savannas and two pastures in S-central Wisconsin. One savanna and one pasture were paired on loam soils, the other sites were on sandy soils. In general, soil moisture was higher below tree canopies than outside canopies during a drying trend and…

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Fire and Litter Effects in Undisturbed Bluestem Prairie in Kansas

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Author: Hulbert, Lloyd C. Description: Two-by-two-meter plots of undisturbed, nearly pure Andropogon gerardi prairie were subjected to four treatments: burning, clipping and removal of the litter, burning the clipped litter and returning the ash, and the control (natural litter). Treatments were started in early April before growth began. Differences in results among the denuded plots were small and nonsignificant, but highly significant differences were found between denuded and control plots. Tiller number was increased 1.5 to 2.7 times by removal of litter. Growth began earlier in denuded than control plots….

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Plant Response to Herbivory and Belowground Nitrogen Cycling

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Author: Holland, Elizabeth A.; Detling, James K. Description: Plant responses to herbivory and links to belowground nitrogen cycling were investigated at Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota. Laboratory estimates of net nitrogen mineralization were highest in soils from the more altered areas of prairie dog colonies (Cynomys ludovicianus) and lowest in the adjacent, lightly grazed, uncolonized grassland. The ratio of CO2: net nitrogen mineralized, as index of immobilization, was highest in the uncolonized grassland and lowest in the altered core areas. Soil moisture was an important modifier of in situ…

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Managing Species Diversity in Tallgrass Prairie: Assumptions and Implications

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Author: Howe, Henry F. Description: Conservation and restoration ecology efforts may conserve or restore a particular image of a community, a variety of plausible images, or maximum biological diversity. The choice is a policy decision that should reflect relevant history and sound science. Here I argue that common methods of conserving and restoring tallgrass prairie have a weak scientific rationale, are not consistent with plausible history, and threaten prairie biodiversity. Dormant-season burns and grazer exclusion are human interventions that may promote artificially consistent dominance of large grasses utilizing the C4…

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