Dataset Information

Combining field experiments and predictive models to assess potential for increased plant diversity to climate-proof intensive agriculture.

ABSTRACT: Agricultural production systems face increasing threats from more frequent and extreme weather fluctuations associated with global climate change. While there is mounting evidence that increased plant community diversity can reduce the variability of ecosystem functions (such as primary productivity) in the face of environmental fluctuation, there has been little work testing whether this is true for intensively managed agricultural systems. Using statistical modeling techniques to fit environment-productivity relationships offers an efficient means of leveraging hard-won experimental data to compare the potential variability of different mixtures across a wide range of environmental contexts. We used data from two multiyear field experiments to fit climate-soil-productivity models for two pasture mixtures under intensive grazing-one composed of two drought-sensitive species (standard), and an eight-species mixture including several drought-resistant species (complex). We then used these models to undertake a scoping study estimating the mean and coefficient of variation (CV) of annual productivity for long-term climate data covering all New Zealand on soils with low, medium, or high water-holding capacity. Our results suggest that the complex mixture is likely to have consistently lower CV in productivity, irrespective of soil type or climate regime. Predicted differences in mean annual productivity between mixtures were strongly influenced by soil type and were closely linked to mean annual soil water availability across all soil types. Differences in the CV of productivity were only strongly related to interannual variance in water availability for the lowest water-holding capacity soil. Our results show that there is considerable scope for mixtures including drought-tolerant species to enhance certainty in intensive pastoral systems. This provides justification for investing resources in a large-scale distributed experiment involving many sites under different environmental contexts to confirm these findings.

SUBMITTER: Mason NWH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5496536 | biostudies-other | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Combining field experiments and predictive models to assess potential for increased plant diversity to climate-proof intensive agriculture.

Mason Norman W H NWH Palmer David J DJ Romera Alvaro A Waugh Deanne D Mudge Paul L PL

Ecology and evolution 20170530 13

Agricultural production systems face increasing threats from more frequent and extreme weather fluctuations associated with global climate change. While there is mounting evidence that increased plant community diversity can reduce the variability of ecosystem functions (such as primary productivity) in the face of environmental fluctuation, there has been little work testing whether this is true for intensively managed agricultural systems. Using statistical modeling techniques to fit environme ...[more]

PMID: 28690818

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Project description:Accurate assessments of species vulnerability to climate change need to consider the physiological capacity of organisms to deal with temperature changes and identify early signs of thermally induced stress. Oxidative stress biomarkers and acetylcholinesterase activity are useful proxies of stress at the cellular and nervous system level. Such responses are especially relevant for poor dispersal organisms with limited capacity for behavioural thermoregulation, like deep subterranean species. We combined experimental measurements of upper lethal thermal limits, acclimation capacity and biomarkers of oxidative stress and neurotoxicity to assess the impact of heat stress (20°C) at different exposure times (2 and 7 days) on the Iberian endemic subterranean beetle Parvospeonomus canyellesi. Survival response (7 days of exposure) was similar to that reported for other subterranean specialist beetles (high survival up to 20°C but no above 23°C). However, a low physiological plasticity (i.e. incapacity to increase heat tolerance via acclimation) and signs of impairment at the cellular and nervous system level were observed after 7 days of exposure at 20°C. Such sublethal effects were identified by significant differences in total antioxidant capacity, glutathione S-transferase activity, the ratio of reduced to oxidized forms of glutathione and acetylcholinesterase activity between the control (cave temperature) and 20°C treatment. At 2 days of exposure, most biomarker values indicated some degree of oxidative stress in both the control and high-temperature treatment, likely reflecting an initial altered physiological status associated to factors other than temperature. Considering these integrated responses and the predicted increase in temperature in its unique locality, P. canyellesi would have a narrower thermal safety margin to face climate change than that obtained considering only survival experiments. Our results highlight the importance of exploring thermally sensitive processes at different levels of biological organization to obtain more accurate estimates of the species capacity to face climate change.

Dataset Information

Combining field experiments and predictive models to assess potential for increased plant diversity to climate-proof intensive agriculture.

Publications

Combining field experiments and predictive models to assess potential for increased plant diversity to climate-proof intensive agriculture.

Similar Datasets

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