The effect of different amounts of rainfall on the below-ground plant biomass was studied in three grassland ecosystems. Responses of the lowland (dry Festuca grassland), highland (wet Cirsium grassland), and mountain (Nardus grassland) grasslands were studied during five years (2006-2010). A field experiment based on rainout shelters and gravity irrigation simulated three climate scenarios: rainfall reduced by 50% (dry), rainfall increased by 50% (wet), and the natural rainfall of the current growing season (ambient). The interannual variation in root increment and total below-ground biomass reflected the experimentally manipulated amount of precipitation and also the amount of current rainfall of individual years. The effect of year on these below-ground parameters was found significant in all studied grasslands. In comparison with dry Festuca grassland, better adapted to drought, submontane wet Cirsium grassland was more sensitive to the different water inputs forming rather lower amount of below-ground plant matter at reduced precipitation.

Department of Vegetation Ecology Institute of Botany Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Lidická 25 602 00 Brno Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Trenberth KE, Dai A, Rasmussen RM, Parsons DB. The changing character of precipitation. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 2003;84(9):1205–1161.

Lawlor DW. Plant responses to global change: temperature and drought stress. In: de Kok LJ, Stulen I, editors. Responses of Plant Metabolism to Air Pollution and Global Change. Leiden, The Netherlands: Backhuys Publishers; 1998. pp. 193–207.

Knapp AK, Fay PA, Blair JM, et al. Rainfall variability, carbon cycling, and plant species diversity in a mesic grassland. Science. 2002;298(5601):2202–2205. PubMed

Fay PA, Kaufman DM, Nippert JB, Carlisle JD, Harper CW. Changes in grassland ecosystem function due to extreme rainfall events: implications for responses to climate change. Global Change Biology. 2008;14(7):1600–1608.

Kreyling J, Wenigmann M, Beierkuhnlein C, Jentsch A. Effects of extreme weather events on plant productivity and tissue die-back are modified by community composition. Ecosystems. 2008;11(5):752–763.

Rychnovska M. Grasslands: a multifunctional link between natural and man-made ecosystems. Ekológia (ČSSR) 1983;2(4):337–345.

Stanton NL. The underground in grasslands. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 1988;19:573–589.

Hui D, Jackson RB. Geographical and interannual variability in biomass partitioning in grassland ecosystems: a synthesis of field data. New Phytologist. 2006;169(1):85–93. PubMed

Risch AC, Jurgensen MF, Frank DA. Effects of grazing and soil micro-climate on decomposition rates in a spatio-temporally heterogeneous grassland. Plant and Soil. 2007;298(1-2):191–201.

Silvertown J, Dodd ME, McConway K, Potts J, Crawley M. Rainfall, biomass variation, and community composition in the park grass experiment. Ecology. 1994;75(8):2430–2437.

Walker MD, Webber PJ, Arnold EH, Ebert-May D. Effects of interannual climate variation on aboveground phytomass in alpine vegetation. Ecology. 1994;75(2):393–408.

Holub P. The expansion of Calamagrostis epigejos into alluvial meadows: comparison of aboveground biomass in relation to water regimes. Ekologia Bratislava. 2002;21(1):27–37.

Han D, O’Kiely P, Sun DW. Application of water-stress models to estimate the herbage dry matter yield of a permanent grassland pasture sward regrowth. Biosystems Engineering. 2003;84(1):101–111.

Hölscher D, Schmitt S, Kupfer K. Growth and leaf traits of four broad-leaved tree species along a hillside gradient. Forstwissenschaftliches Centralblatt. 2002;121(5):229–239.

Hayes DC, Seastedt TR. Root dynamics of tallgrass prairie in wet and dry years. Canadian Journal of Botany. 1987;65(4):787–791.

Andrzejewska L. Root production of some grass communities on peat soil in river valleys of Biebrza and Narew. Polish Ecological Studies. 1991;17(1-2):63–72.

Pandey CB, Singh JS. Rainfall and grazing effects on net primary productivity in a tropical savanna, India. Ecology. 1992;73(6):2007–2021.

Titlyanova AA, Romanova IP, Kosykh NP, Mironycheva-Tokareva NP. Pattern and process in above-ground and below-ground components of grassland ecosystems. Journal of Vegetation Science. 1999;10(3):307–320.

Weltzin JF, Pastor J, Harth C, Bridgham SD, Updegraff K, Chapin CT. Response of bog and fen plant communities to warming and water-table manipulations. Ecology. 2000;81(12):3464–3478.

Weißhuhn K, Auge H, Prati D. Geographic variation in the response to drought in nine grassland species. Basic and Applied Ecology. 2011;12(1):21–28.

Bakker MR, Augusto L, Achat DL. Fine root distribution of trees and understory in mature stands of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) on dry and humid sites. Plant and Soil. 2006;286(1-2):37–51.

Ibrahim L, Proe MF, Cameron AD. Main effects of nitrogen supply and drought stress upon whole-plant carbon allocation in poplar. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 1997;27(9):1413–1419.

Qaderi MM, Kurepin LV, Reid DM. Growth and physiological responses of canola (Brassica napus) to three components of global climate change: temperature, carbon dioxide and drought. Physiologia Plantarum. 2006;128(4):710–721.

Wedderburn ME, Crush JR, Pengelly WJ, Walcroft JL. Root growth patterns of perennial ryegrasses under well-watered and drought conditions. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research. 2010;53(4):377–388.

Tesařová M. Micro-organisms in grasslands. In: Rychnovská M, editor. Structure and Functioning of Seminatural Meadows. Prague, Czech Republic: Academia; 1993. pp. 245–275.

van Oorschot M, van Gaalen N, Maltby E, Mockler N, Spink A, Verhoeven JTA. Experimental manipulation of water levels in two French riverine grassland soils. Acta Oecologica. 2000;21(1):49–62.

Tůma I. Release of nutrients from decomposing grass litter on deforested areas affected by air pollution in the Beskydy Mts. Ekologia Bratislava. 2002;21(2):201–220.

Yang X, Wang M, Huang Y, Wang Y. A one-compartment model to study soil carbon decomposition rate at equilibrium situation. Ecological Modelling. 2002;151(1):63–73.

Fischer Z, Niewinna M, Yasulbutaeva I. Intensity of organic matter decomposition in various landscapes of Caucasus (Daghestan) Polish Journal of Ecology. 2006;54(1):105–116.

Teklay T. Decomposition and nutrient release from pruning residues of two indigenous agroforestry species during the wet and dry seasons. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems. 2007;77(2):115–126.

Köchy M, Wilson SD. Semiarid grassland responses to short-term variation in water availability. Plant Ecology. 2004;174(2):197–203.

Yahdjian L, Sala OE, Austin AT. Differential controls of water input on litter decomposition and nitrogen dynamics in the Patagonian steppe. Ecosystems. 2006;9(1):128–141.

Yahdjian L, Sala OE. Vegetation structure constrains primary production response to water availability in the Patagonian steppe. Ecology. 2006;87(4):952–962. PubMed

Yahdjian L, Sala OE. A rainout shelter design for intercepting different amounts of rainfall. Oecologia. 2002;133(2):95–101. PubMed

Kuchenbuch RO, Ingram KT, Buczko U. Effects of decreasing soil water content on seminal and lateral roots of young maize plants. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science. 2006;169(6):841–848.

Murphy M, Laiho R, Moore TR. Effects of water table drawdown on root production and aboveground biomass in a boreal bog. Ecosystems. 2009;12(8):1268–1282.

Perez CA, Frangi JL. Grassland biomass dynamics along an altitudinal gradient in the Pampa. Journal of Range Management. 2000;53(5):518–528.

Eissenstat DM, Yanai RD. The ecology of root lifespan. Advances in Ecological Research. 1997;27:1–60.

Fitter AH, Graves JD, Self GK, Brown TK, Bogie DS, Taylor K. Root production, turnover and respiration under two grassland types along an altitudinal gradient: influence of temperature and solar radiation. Oecologia. 1998;114(1):20–30. PubMed

Speidel B. Primary production and root activity of a Golden Oat meadow with different fertilizer treatments. Polish Ecological Studies. 1976;2:77–89.

Pietola LM, Smucker AJ. Fine root dynamics of alfalfa after multiple cuttings and during a late invasion by weeds. Agronomy Journal. 1995;87(6):1161–1169.

Meier IC, Leuschner C. Belowground drought response of European beech: fine root biomass and carbon partitioning in 14 mature stands across a precipitation gradient. Global Change Biology. 2008;14(9):2081–2095.

Frank DA. Drought effects on above-and belowground production of a grazed temperate grassland ecosystem. Oecologia. 2007;152(1):131–139. PubMed

Jakrlová J. Flooded meadow communities. An analysis of productivity in a dry year. Folia Geobotanica and Phytotaxonomica. 1971;6:1–27.

Valdés M, Asbjornsen H, Gómez-Cárdenas M, Juárez M, Vogt KA. Drought effects on fine-root and ectomycorrhizal-root biomass in managed Pinus oaxacana Mirov stands in Oaxaca, Mexico. Mycorrhiza. 2006;16(2):117–124. PubMed

Bontti EE, Decant JP, Munson SM, et al. Litter decomposition in grasslands of Central North America (US Great Plains) Global Change Biology. 2009;15(5):1356–1363.

Fiala K. Underground biomass in meadow stands. In: Rychnovská M, editor. Functioning of Meadow Ecosystems. Prague, Czech Republic: Academia; 1993. pp. 133–153.

Fiala K. Underground plant biomass of grassland communities in relation to mowing intensity. Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Academiae Scientiarum Bohemicae Brno. 1997;31(6):1–54.

A starting guide to root ecology: strengthening ecological concepts and standardising root classification, sampling, processing and trait measurements