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Biotic and abiotic changes along a cyclic succession driven by shrubs in semiarid steppes from Patagonia

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Abstract

Aim

We studied the legacy effects of shrubs during the downgrade phase of high–cover patches. Specifically, are woody species able to modify environmental attributes at patch level to such an extent as to alter the colonization once they have vacated their original position?

Methods

We monitored five environmental variables along an experimental four-stage downgrading gradient of high–cover patches during two years in cold- and warm-seasons, individual plant growth during three years, as well as the floristic composition of patches along the same gradient after 13 years.

Results

The downgrade of high–cover patches reduces the aboveground protection due to the increase in wind speed (400–500%) and evaporation rate (43–160%) associated with shrub death and senescence. In addition, high–cover patches increase the total soil nitrogen (400–600%) and reduce the infiltration rate (44–73%) on the top layer. Leaf length and flower culms of grass tussocks were lower in bare soil patches (7.5 cm and 3) compared to whatever degradation stage of high–cover patches (9–10 cm and 18–32). Floristic composition after 13 years reveals that grass species occupied the patch stages differentially, with a disjunctive pattern among species within the Poa and Pappostipa genus.

Conclusions

Legacy effects prompted by shrubs through changes in soil properties at the horizontal plane can conditioned the patch dynamics. The ability of different plant species to cope with the spatial heterogeneity at the horizontal plane should be included as a new criterion to define plant strategies from arid ecosystems according to the gap–phase dynamics and mosaic maintenance.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the kindness of Ruy Perea, Fernando Troiano, Pamela B. Graff and José Luis Rotundo that helped in different tasks of the field work. INTA granted the access to the experimental field and facilities. We cordially thank Natasha Wiggins, Vanina L. Cipriotti and two anonymous reviewers for her valuable comments on a previous version of this manuscript. The studies reported in this manuscript comply with the ethics guidelines and current laws of Rep. Argentina. This work was supported by grants from the University of Buenos Aires (UBACyT 2011-0497), CONICET (PIP-0032), and Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2007-0462 and 2011-1276).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información, Facultad de Agronomía – IFEVA, Universidad de Buenos Aires / CONICET, Av. San Martín 4453 (C1417DSE), Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Pablo A. Cipriotti

  2. Cátedra de Ecología, Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente, Facultad de Agronomía – IFEVA, Universidad de Buenos Aires / CONICET, Av. San Martín 4453 (C1417DSE), Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Martín R. Aguiar

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  1. Pablo A. Cipriotti
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Correspondence to Pablo A. Cipriotti.

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Responsible Editor: Harry Olde Venterink.

Electronic supplementary material

Table S1.

Summary of the analyses of variance under repeated measures design for the soil gravimetric water content from top (a, c) and bottom soil layer (b, d) across four patch stages during warm (a, b) and cold (c, d) season. (DOCX 26 kb)

Table S2.

Summary of the analyses of variance for the wind speed ratio across different dates (as blocks) and four patch stages during warm (a) and cold (b) season. (DOCX 24 kb)

Table S3.

Summary of the analyses of variance for the evaporation rate across different dates (as blocks) and four patch stages during warm (a) and cold (b) season. (DOCX 24 kb)

Table S4.

Summary of the analyses of variance for the infiltration rate across two patch stages (living shrub and bare soil patches) from two different initial soil water contents: dry (a) or wet (b). (DOCX 24 kb)

Table S5.

Summary of the analyses of variance under repeated measures design for the soil nitrogen concentration from ammonia (a, c) and nitrates (b, d) at the top soil layer (0–5 cm) across four patch stages during warm (a, b) and cold (c, d) season. (DOCX 26 kb)

Table S6

Summary of the analyses of variance for the leaf length of grass tussocks across different years (as blocks) and four patch stages (a); and summary of the Wald statistic and Chi-square test for the generalized model of flower culms of grass tussocks across four patch stages (b). (DOCX 25 kb)

Table S7.

Summary of the multivariate analysis of variance (Wilks test) for grasses and shrubs density (a); species-specific grass density (b); and species-specific shrub density (c) across four patch stages. (DOCX 24 kb)

Table S8

Summary of single analysis of variance for dominant grass and shrub species (a-f) across four patch stages: Pappostipa speciosa (a), Pappostipa humilis (b), Poa ligularis (c), Poa lanuginosa (d), Senecio filaginoides (e), and Adesmia volckmanni (f). (DOCX 27 kb)

Table S9

Summary of the constrained correspondence analysis (CCA) of floristic composition along time (0: 2001 vs. 1: 2014) for two stages of vegetation patches: dead shrubs (a) and shrub remains (b). (DOCX 27 kb)

Figure S1.

Density of shrubs Senecio filaginoides (a) and Adesmia volckmanii (b) across four stages of vegetation patches (LS: living shrub, DS: dead shrub, SR: shrub remains, and BS: bare soil). The vertical bars indicate means ± SE. (DOCX 68 kb)

Figure S2

Detailed pictures of two naturally degraded high–cover patches previously occupied by a Mulinum spinosum (Cav.) Pers. shrub across two different degradation stages: early (a) and late (b) degradation. Ellipses encircled the ramets of the non-tussock subdominant grass Poa lanuginosa Poir. growing through the litter layer (a) or in the area originally occupied by the shrub canopy (b). Photos by Pablo A. Cipriotti. (DOCX 4695 kb)

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Cipriotti, P.A., Aguiar, M.R. Biotic and abiotic changes along a cyclic succession driven by shrubs in semiarid steppes from Patagonia. Plant Soil 414, 295–308 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-3131-7

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