Dataset Information

Summer drought alters carbon allocation to roots and root respiration in mountain grassland.

ABSTRACT: Drought affects the carbon (C) source and sink activities of plant organs, with potential consequences for belowground C allocation, a key process of the terrestrial C cycle. The responses of belowground C allocation dynamics to drought are so far poorly understood. We combined experimental rain exclusion with (13)C pulse labelling in a mountain meadow to analyse the effects of summer drought on the dynamics of belowground allocation of recently assimilated C and how it is partitioned among different carbohydrate pools and root respiration. Severe soil moisture deficit decreased the ecosystem C uptake and the amounts and velocity of C allocated from shoots to roots. However, the proportion of recently assimilated C translocated belowground remained unaffected by drought. Reduced root respiration, reflecting reduced C demand under drought, was increasingly sustained by C reserves, whilst recent assimilates were preferentially allocated to root storage and an enlarged pool of osmotically active compounds. Our results indicate that under drought conditions the usage of recent photosynthates is shifted from metabolic activity to osmotic adjustment and storage compounds.

SUBMITTER: Hasibeder R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4303983 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Summer drought alters carbon allocation to roots and root respiration in mountain grassland.

Hasibeder Roland R Fuchslueger Lucia L Richter Andreas A Bahn Michael M

The New phytologist 20141110 3

Drought affects the carbon (C) source and sink activities of plant organs, with potential consequences for belowground C allocation, a key process of the terrestrial C cycle. The responses of belowground C allocation dynamics to drought are so far poorly understood. We combined experimental rain exclusion with (13)C pulse labelling in a mountain meadow to analyse the effects of summer drought on the dynamics of belowground allocation of recently assimilated C and how it is partitioned among diff ...[more]

PMID: 25385284

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Project description:Mountain grasslands have recently been exposed to substantial changes in land use and climate and in the near future will likely face an increased frequency of extreme droughts. To date, how the drought responses of carbon (C) allocation, a key process in the C cycle, are affected by land-use changes in mountain grassland is not known.We performed an experimental summer drought on an abandoned grassland and a traditionally managed hay meadow and traced the fate of recent assimilates through the plant-soil continuum. We applied two 13 CO 2 pulses, at peak drought and in the recovery phase shortly after rewetting.Drought decreased total C uptake in both grassland types and led to a loss of above-ground carbohydrate storage pools. The below-ground C allocation to root sucrose was enhanced by drought, especially in the meadow, which also held larger root carbohydrate storage pools.The microbial community of the abandoned grassland comprised more saprotrophic fungal and Gram(+) bacterial markers compared to the meadow. Drought increased the newly introduced AM and saprotrophic (A+S) fungi:bacteria ratio in both grassland types. At peak drought, the 13C transfer into AM and saprotrophic fungi, and Gram(-) bacteria was more strongly reduced in the meadow than in the abandoned grassland, which contrasted the patterns of the root carbohydrate pools.In both grassland types, the C allocation largely recovered after rewetting. Slowest recovery was found for AM fungi and their 13C uptake. In contrast, all bacterial markers quickly recovered C uptake. In the meadow, where plant nitrate uptake was enhanced after drought, C uptake was even higher than in control plots. Synthesis. Our results suggest that resistance and resilience (i.e. recovery) of plant C dynamics and plant-microbial interactions are negatively related, that is, high resistance is followed by slow recovery and vice versa. The abandoned grassland was more resistant to drought than the meadow and possibly had a stronger link to AM fungi that could have provided better access to water through the hyphal network. In contrast, meadow communities strongly reduced C allocation to storage and C transfer to the microbial community in the drought phase, but in the recovery phase invested C resources in the bacterial communities to gain more nutrients for regrowth. We conclude that the management of mountain grasslands increases their resilience to drought.

Project description:Droughts strongly affect carbon and nitrogen cycling in grasslands, with consequences for ecosystem productivity. Therefore, we investigated how experimental grassland communities interact with groups of soil microorganisms. In particular, we explored the mechanisms of the drought-induced decoupling of plant photosynthesis and microbial carbon cycling and its recovery after rewetting. Our aim was to better understand how root exudation during drought is linked to pulses of soil microbial activity and changes in plant nitrogen uptake after rewetting. We set up a mesocosm experiment on a meadow site and used shelters to simulate drought. We performed two 13C-CO2 pulse labelings, the first at peak drought and the second in the recovery phase, and traced the flow of assimilates into the carbohydrates of plants and the water extractable organic carbon and microorganisms from the soil. Total microbial tracer uptake in the main metabolism was estimated by chloroform fumigation extraction, whereas the lipid biomarkers were used to assess differences between the microbial groups. Drought led to a reduction of aboveground versus belowground plant growth and to an increase of 13C tracer contents in the carbohydrates, particularly in the roots. Newly assimilated 13C tracer unexpectedly accumulated in the water-extractable soil organic carbon, indicating that root exudation continued during the drought. In contrast, drought strongly reduced the amount of 13C tracer assimilated into the soil microorganisms. This reduction was more severe in the growth-related lipid biomarkers than in the metabolic compounds, suggesting a slowdown of microbial processes at peak drought. Shortly after rewetting, the tracer accumulation in the belowground plant carbohydrates and in the water-extractable soil organic carbon disappeared. Interestingly, this disappearance was paralleled by a quick recovery of the carbon uptake into metabolic and growth-related compounds from the rhizospheric microorganisms, which was probably related to the higher nitrogen supply to the plant shoots. We conclude that the decoupling of plant photosynthesis and soil microbial carbon cycling during drought is due to reduced carbon uptake and metabolic turnover of rhizospheric soil microorganisms. Moreover, our study suggests that the maintenance of root exudation during drought is connected to a fast reinitiation of soil microbial activity after rewetting, supporting plant recovery through increased nitrogen availability.

Project description:BackgroundRoot architectural and anatomical phenotypes are important for adaptation to drought. Many rice-growing regions face increasing water scarcity. This study describes drought responses of 11 Egyptian rice cultivars with emphasis on plastic root responses that may enhance drought adaptation.ResultsEleven Egyptian rice cultivars were phenotyped for root architectural and anatomical traits after 6 weeks growth in soil mesocosms under well-watered conditions. Four of these cultivars were more intensively phenotyped under progressive drought stress in mesocosms, using a system where more moisture was available at depth than near the surface. In response to drought stress, all cultivars significantly reduced nodal root number while increasing large lateral root branching density and total lateral root length in the deepest portions of the mesocosm, where moisture was available. Nodal root cross-sectional area, but not stele area, was reduced by drought stress, especially in the basal segments of the root, and the number of late metaxylem vessels was reduced in only one cultivar. Alterations in deposition of lignin were detected by UV illumination from laser ablation tomography, enhanced by digital staining, and confirmed with standard histochemical methods. In well-watered plants, the sclerenchyma and endodermis were heavily lignified, and lignin was also visible throughout the epidermis and cortex. Under drought stress, very little lignin was detected in the outer cell layers and none in the cortex of nodal roots, but lignin deposition was enhanced in the stele. Root anatomical phenes, including cross-section area and metaxylem vessel number and lignin deposition varied dramatically along large lateral root axes under drought stress, with increasing diameter and less lignification of the stele in successive samples taken from the base to the root apex.ConclusionsRoot architectural and anatomical traits varied significantly among a set of Egyptian cultivars. Most traits were plastic, i.e. changed significantly with drought treatment, and, in many cases, plasticity was cultivar-dependent. These phenotypic alterations may function to enhance water uptake efficiency. Increased large lateral root branching in the deep soil should maintain water acquisition, while water transport during drought should be secured with a more extensively lignified stele.

Dataset Information

Summer drought alters carbon allocation to roots and root respiration in mountain grassland.

Publications

Summer drought alters carbon allocation to roots and root respiration in mountain grassland.

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