Browsing by Person "Jentsch, Anke"

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Increases in functional diversity of mountain plant communities is mainly driven by species turnover under climate change
(2023) Schuchardt, Max A.; Berauer, Bernd J.; Duc, Anh Le; Ingrisch, Johannes; Niu, Yujie; Bahn, Michael; Jentsch, Anke
Warming in mountain regions is projected to be three times faster than the global average. Pronounced climate change will likely lead to species reshuffling in mountain plant communities and consequently change ecosystem resilience and functioning. Yet, little is known about the role of inter‐ versus intraspecific changes of plant traits and their consequences for functional richness and evenness of mountain plant communities under climate change. We performed a downslope translocation experiment of intact plant‐soil mesocosms from an alpine pasture and a subalpine grassland in the Swiss and Austrian Alps to simulate an abrupt shift in climate and removal of dispersal barriers. Translocated plant communities experienced warmer and dryer climatic conditions. We found a considerable shift from resource conservative to resource acquisitive leaf‐economy in the two climate change scenarios. However, shifts in leaf‐economy were mainly attributable to species turnover, namely colonization by novel lowland species with trait expressions for a wider range of resource use. We also found an increase in vegetative height of the warmed and drought‐affected alpine plant community, while trait plasticity to warming and drought was limited to few graminoid species of the subalpine plant community. Our results highlight the contrast between the strong competitive potential of novel lowland species in quickly occupying available niche space and native species' lack of both the intraspecific trait variability and the plant functional trait expressions needed to increase functional richness under warming and drought. This is particularly important for the trailing range of many mountain species (i.e. subalpine zone) where upward moving lowland species are becoming more abundant and abiotic climate stressors are likely to become more frequent in the near future. Our study emphasizes mountain plant communities' vulnerability to novel climates and biotic interactions under climate change and highlights graminoid species as potential winners of a warmer and dryer future. Keywords: alpine grassland, functional diversity, invasion, species turnover, traitspace, translocation
Plant–soil relationships diminish under major versus moderate climate change in subalpine grasslands
(2025) Terry, Tyson J.; Wilfahrt, Peter; Andrade‐Linares, Diana R.; Abdalla, Khatab; Berauer, Bernd J.; Dannenmann, Michael; Garcia‐Franco, Noelia; Han, Jincheng; von Hessberg, Andreas; Ramm, Elisabeth; Kiese, Ralf; Kögel‐Knabner, Ingrid; Niu, Yujie; Schloter, Michael; Schulz, Stefanie; Wiesmeier, Martin; Jentsch, Anke; Terry, Tyson J.; Disturbance Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research, Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, Germany; Wilfahrt, Peter; Disturbance Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research, Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, Germany; Andrade‐Linares, Diana R.; Environmental Microbiology Research Group‐ EMRG, Biological Sciences Department, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland; Abdalla, Khatab; Agroecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research, Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, Germany; Berauer, Bernd J.; Plant Ecology, Institute of Landscape and Plant Ecology University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany; Dannenmann, Michael; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK‐IFU), Garmisch‐Partenkirchen, Germany; Garcia‐Franco, Noelia; Soil Science, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany; Han, Jincheng; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK‐IFU), Garmisch‐Partenkirchen, Germany; von Hessberg, Andreas; Disturbance Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research, Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, Germany; Ramm, Elisabeth; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK‐IFU), Garmisch‐Partenkirchen, Germany; Kiese, Ralf; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK‐IFU), Garmisch‐Partenkirchen, Germany; Kögel‐Knabner, Ingrid; Soil Science, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany; Niu, Yujie; Disturbance Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research, Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, Germany; Schloter, Michael; Environmental Microbiology Research Group‐ EMRG, Biological Sciences Department, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland; Schulz, Stefanie; Environmental Microbiology Research Group‐ EMRG, Biological Sciences Department, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland; Wiesmeier, Martin; Soil Science, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany; Jentsch, Anke; Disturbance Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research, Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, Germany
Plant communities and soil microbial communities influence each other directly and indirectly via the resource pools they modify. Despite apparent sensitivities of plants and microbes to climate, little is known concerning how climate change will affect plant–soil relationships. We conducted a downslope translocation of intact soil–plant mesocosms in subalpine grasslands to mid‐ and low‐elevation sites to determine how climate change (warmer and drier conditions) influences plant–soil relationships. While soil nutrient pools and microbial composition were key determinants of plant community characteristics under control and moderate climate change (+1°C, +8 days growing season), these relationships diminished under major climate change (+3°C, +21 days growing season). Positive correlations of fungi and nitrogen‐fixing bacteria for plant growth emerged under moderate climate change and diminished under major climate change. Our findings indicate that climate change effects do not solely impact plant community metrics, soil nutrient pools, and soil microbial community composition, but also a breakdown in the ecological coupling among them. We found evidence of threshold‐like behavior for plant–soil relationships in response to major versus moderate environmental change and that plant community metrics and soil microbial dynamics may become more independent in subalpine grasslands following environmental shifts that accompany climate change.