Effects of warmer and drier climate conditions on plant composition and biomass production in a Mediterranean shrubland community
Academic Article
Publication Date:
2006
Short description:
Effects of warmer and drier climate conditions on plant composition and
biomass production in a Mediterranean shrubland community / Sirca, Costantino Battista; Spano, Donatella Emma Ignazia; Pellizzaro, Grazia; Cesaraccio, Carla; De Angelis, Paolo; Scarascia Mugnozza, Giuseppe; De Dato, Giovanbattista Domenico; Duce, Pierpaolo. - In: FOREST@. - ISSN 1824-0119. - 3:4(2006), pp. 511-526.
abstract:
The last IPCC report predicts warmer and drier conditions for the future European climate and the
Mediterranean basin could be highly sensible to future climatic change. In order to investigate how the forecast
more stressing factors could affect Mediterranean shrubland ecosystems, an appropriate manipulation
of the microclimate was carried out in an area covered by Mediterranean maquis aimed at extending the
drought period and increasing the night-time temperature. Soil cover, plant growth, litterfall, leaf water
status, and leaf nutritional status were monitored over three growing seasons. The manipulation altered the
microclimate according to common scenarios, increasing mean annual night-time air temperature by about 1
°C and mean annual temperature by about 0.5 °C, and decreasing precipitation between 6-46% of the total
rainfall during the growing seasons. A general increase of vegetation cover was observed in the whole community
during the three years of experimentation. This positive temporal pattern was mainly observed in
control and warming treatment, whereas in the drought treatment it was less evident. At species-specific
level, a clear negative effect of drought treatment was observed for C. monspeliensis percentage cover. Shoot
elongation was not significantly affected by the warming treatment. A significant negative effect of drought
treatment was noticed in the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 growing seasons. An increase of N and P concentrations
in the drought treatment in Cistus was observed and it can be explained by the reduced shoot growth
induced by the water shortage that we had observed in the same treatment. The absence of a concentration
effect on the other two species could be the signal of the different behaviour with regard to a drier climate,
and therefore could be a symptom of future change in species composition. We underline the need of longterm
observation, because of the different responses of plants in the short and long- term conditions.
Mediterranean basin could be highly sensible to future climatic change. In order to investigate how the forecast
more stressing factors could affect Mediterranean shrubland ecosystems, an appropriate manipulation
of the microclimate was carried out in an area covered by Mediterranean maquis aimed at extending the
drought period and increasing the night-time temperature. Soil cover, plant growth, litterfall, leaf water
status, and leaf nutritional status were monitored over three growing seasons. The manipulation altered the
microclimate according to common scenarios, increasing mean annual night-time air temperature by about 1
°C and mean annual temperature by about 0.5 °C, and decreasing precipitation between 6-46% of the total
rainfall during the growing seasons. A general increase of vegetation cover was observed in the whole community
during the three years of experimentation. This positive temporal pattern was mainly observed in
control and warming treatment, whereas in the drought treatment it was less evident. At species-specific
level, a clear negative effect of drought treatment was observed for C. monspeliensis percentage cover. Shoot
elongation was not significantly affected by the warming treatment. A significant negative effect of drought
treatment was noticed in the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 growing seasons. An increase of N and P concentrations
in the drought treatment in Cistus was observed and it can be explained by the reduced shoot growth
induced by the water shortage that we had observed in the same treatment. The absence of a concentration
effect on the other two species could be the signal of the different behaviour with regard to a drier climate,
and therefore could be a symptom of future change in species composition. We underline the need of longterm
observation, because of the different responses of plants in the short and long- term conditions.
Iris type:
1.1 Articolo in rivista
Keywords:
Mediterranean shrublands; plant production; nigh time warming; drought period extension
List of contributors:
Sirca, Costantino Battista; Spano, Donatella Emma Ignazia; Pellizzaro, Grazia; Cesaraccio, Carla; De Angelis, Paolo; Scarascia Mugnozza, Giuseppe; De Dato, Giovanbattista Domenico; Duce, Pierpaolo
Full Text:
Published in: