Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Impact of intra- versus inter-annual snow depth variation on water relations and photosynthesis for two Great Basin Desert shrubs

  • Population ecology - Original research
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Snowfall provides the majority of soil water in certain ecosystems of North America. We tested the hypothesis that snow depth variation affects soil water content, which in turn drives water potential (Ψ) and photosynthesis, over 10 years for two widespread shrubs of the western USA. Stem Ψ (Ψ stem) and photosynthetic gas exchange [stomatal conductance to water vapor (g s), and CO2 assimilation (A)] were measured in mid-June each year from 2004 to 2013 for Artemisia tridentata var. vaseyana (Asteraceae) and Purshia tridentata (Rosaceae). Snow fences were used to create increased or decreased snow depth plots. Snow depth on +snow plots was about twice that of ambient plots in most years, and 20 % lower on −snow plots, consistent with several down-scaled climate model projections. Maximal soil water content at 40- and 100-cm depths was correlated with February snow depth. For both species, multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA) showed that Ψ stem, g s, and A were significantly affected by intra-annual variation in snow depth. Within years, MANOVA showed that only A was significantly affected by spatial snow depth treatments for A. tridentata, and Ψ stem was significantly affected by snow depth for P. tridentata. Results show that stem water relations and photosynthetic gas exchange for these two cold desert shrub species in mid-June were more affected by inter-annual variation in snow depth by comparison to within-year spatial variation in snow depth. The results highlight the potential importance of changes in inter-annual variation in snowfall for future shrub photosynthesis in the western Great Basin Desert.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adam JC, Lettenmaier DP (2003) Adjustment of global gridded precipitation for systematic bias. J Geophys Res Atmos 1984–2012:108

    Google Scholar 

  • Alpert H, Loik ME (2013) Pinus jeffreyi establishment along a forest–shrub ecotone in eastern California, USA. J Arid Environ 90:12–21. doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2012.09.017

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkin OK, Holly C, Ball MC (2000) Acclimation of snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora) leaf respiration to seasonal and diurnal variations in temperature: the importance of changes in the capacity and temperature sensitivity of respiration. Plant Cell Environ 23:15–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breshears DD, Rich PM, Barnes FJ, Campbell K (1997) Overstory-imposed heterogeneity in solar radiation and soil moisture in a semiarid woodland. Ecol Appl 7:1201–1215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caldwell MM, Dawson TE, Richards JH (1998) Hydraulic lift: consequences of water efflux from the roots of plants. Oecologia 113:151–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cayan DR, Kammerdiener SA, Dettinger MD, Caprio JM, Peterson DH (2001) Changes in the onset of spring in the western United States. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 82:399–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Concilio AL, Loik ME (2013) Elevated nitrogen effects on Bromus tectorum dominance and native plant diversity in an arid montane ecosystem. Appl Veg Sci 16:598–609. doi:10.1111/avsc.12029

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Concilio AL, Loik ME, Belnap J (2013) Global change effects on Bromus tectorum L. (Poaceae) at its high-elevation range margin. Glob Change Biol 19:161–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Essery R, Pomeroy J, Parviainen J, Storck P (2003) Sublimation of snow from coniferous forests in a climate model. J Clim 16:1855–1864

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galen C, Stanton ML (1993) Short-term responses of alpine buttercups to experimental manipulations of growing-season length. Ecology 74:1052–1058

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galen C, Stanton ML (1995) Responses of snowbed plant-species to changes in growing-season length. Ecology 76:1546–1557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffith AB, Loik ME (2010) Effects of climate and snow depth on Bromus tectorum population dynamics at high elevation. Oecologia 164:821–832

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Griffith AB, Alpert H, Loik ME (2010) Predicting shrub ecophysiology in the Great Basin Desert using spectral indices. J Arid Environ 74:315–326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groisman PY, Knight RW, Karl TR, Easterling DR, Sun BM, Lawrimore JH (2004) Contemporary changes of the hydrological cycle over the contiguous United States: trends derived from in situ observations. J Hydrometeorol 5:64–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harte J, Shaw R (1995) Shifting dominance within a montane vegetation community—results of a climate-warming experiment. Science 267:876–880

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hayhoe K et al (2004) Emissions pathways, climate change, and impacts on California. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:12422–12427

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huxman TE et al (2004) Convergence across biomes to a common rain-use efficiency. Nature 429:651–654

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson RB et al (2001) Water in a changing world. Ecol Appl 11:1027–1045

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Smith MD (2001) Variation among biomes in temporal dynamics of aboveground primary production. Science 291:481–484

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lambrecht SC, Shattuck AK, Loik ME (2007) Combined drought and episodic freezing effects on seedlings of low- and high-elevation subspecies of sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). Physiol Plant 130:207–217

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lapp S, Byrne J, Townshend I, Kienzle S (2005) Climate warming impacts on snowpack accumulation in an alpine watershed. Int J Climatol 25:521–536

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leffler AJ, Caldwell MM (2005) Shifts in depth of water extraction and photosynthetic capacity inferred from stable isotope proxies across an ecotone of Juniperus osteosperma (Utah juniper) and Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush). J Ecol 93:783–793

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leffler AJ, Ivans CY, Ryel RJ, Caldwell MM (2004) Gas exchange and growth responses of the desert shrubs Artemisia tridentata and Chrysothamnus nauseosus to shallow- vs. deep-soil water in a glasshouse experiment. Environ Exp Bot 51:9–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leffler AJ, Peek MS, Ryel RJ, Ivans CY, Caldwell MM (2005) Hydraulic redistribution through the root systems of senesced plants. Ecology 86:633–642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Limousin JM et al (2013) Regulation and acclimation of leaf gas exchange in a pinon–juniper woodland exposed to three different precipitation regimes. Plant Cell Environ 36:1812–1825. doi:10.1111/pce.12089

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Loik ME (2007) Sensitivity of water relations and photosynthesis to summer precipitation pulses for Artemisia tridentata and Purshia tridentata. Plant Ecol 191:95–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loik ME, Breshears DD, Lauenroth WK, Belnap J (2004a) A multi-scale perspective of water pulses in dryland ecosystems: climatology and ecohydrology of the western USA. Oecologia 141:269–281

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Loik ME, Still CJ, Huxman TE, Harte J (2004b) In situ photosynthetic freezing tolerance for plants exposed to a global warming manipulation in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA. New Phytol 162:331–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loik ME, Griffith AB, Alpert H (2013) Impacts of long-term snow climate change on a high-elevation cold desert shrubland, California, USA. Plant Ecol 214:255–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Looney SW, Stanley WB (1989) Exploratory repeated measures analysis for two or more groups: review and update. Am Stat 43:220–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Luo YQ, Wan SQ, Hui DF, Wallace LL (2001) Acclimatization of soil respiration to warming in a tall grass prairie. Nature 413:622–625

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacCracken MC, Barron EJ, Easterling DR, Felzer BS, Karl TR (2003) Climate change scenarios for the US National Assessment. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 84:1711–1723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks D, Dozier J (1992) Climate and energy exchange at the snow surface in the alpine region of the Sierra-Nevada. 2. Snow cover energy-balance. Water Resour Res 28:3043–3054

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maurer E, Wood A, Adam J, Lettenmaier D, Nijssen B (2002) A long-term hydrologically based dataset of land surface fluxes and states for the Conterminous United States*. J Clim 15:3237–3251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maurer EP, Brekke L, Pruitt T, Duffy PB (2007) Fine-resolution climate projections enhance regional climate change impact studies. Eos Trans Am Geophys Union 88:504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mearns LO, Giorgi F, McDaniel L, Shields C (1995) Analysis of daily variability of precipitation in a nested regional climate model—comparison with observations and doubled CO2 results. Glob Planet Change 10:55–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meehl G, Covey C, McAvaney B, Latif M, Stouffer R (2005) Overview of the coupled model intercomparison project (CMIP). Bull Am Meteorol Soc 86:89–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meehl GA et al (2007) The WCRP CMIP3 multimodel dataset: a new era in climate change research. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 88:1383–1394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller AJ et al (2003) Potential feedbacks between Pacific Ocean ecosystems and interdecadal climate variations. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 84:617–633

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray CD, Buttle JM (2005) Infiltration and soil water mixing on forested and harvested slopes during spring snowmelt, Turkey Lakes Watershed, central Ontario. J Hydrol 306:1–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naumburg E, Mata-Gonzalez R, Hunter RG, McLendon T, Martin DW (2005) Phreatophytic vegetation and groundwater fluctuations: a review of current research and application of ecosystem response modeling with an emphasis on Great Basin vegetation. Environ Manage 35:726–740

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perryman BL, Laycock WA, Koch DW (2000) Investigation of herbaceous species adapted to snowfence areas. J Range Manag 53:371–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peek MS, Leffler AJ, Ivans CY, Ryel RJ, Caldwell MM (2005) Fine root distribution and persistence under field conditions of three co-occurring Great Basin species of different life form. New Phytol 165:171–180

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Price MV, Waser NM (1998) Effects of experimental warming on plant reproductive phenology in a subalpine meadow. Ecology 79:1261–1271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn GP, Keough MJ (2002) Experimental design and data analysis for biologists. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ryel RJ, Leffler AJ, Peek MS, Ivans CY, Caldwell MM (2004) Water conservation in Artemisia tridentata through redistribution of precipitation. Oecologia 141:335–345

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saavedra F, Inouye DW, Price MV, Harte J (2003) Changes in flowering and abundance of Delphinium nuttallianum (Ranunculaceae) in response to a subalpine climate warming experiment. Glob Change Biol 9:885–894

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saito K, Yasunari T, Cohen J (2004) Changes in the sub-decadal covariability between northern hemisphere snow cover and the general circulation of the atmosphere. Int J Climatol 24:33–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwinning S, Sala OE (2004) Hierarchy of responses to resource pulses in and and semi-arid ecosystems. Oecologia 141:211–220

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seney JP, Gallegos JA (1995) Soil survey of Inyo National Forest, West Area. United States Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw MR, Loik ME, Harte J (2000) Gas exchange and water relations of two Rocky Mountain shrub species exposed to a climate change manipulation. Plant Ecol 146:197–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith B, Mark AF, Wilson JB (1995) A functional analysis of New Zealand alpine vegetation: variation in canopy roughness and functional diversity in response to an experimental wind barrier. Funct Ecol 9:904–912

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sturges DL (1989) Response of mountain big sagebrush to induced snow accumulation. J Appl Ecol 26:1035–1041

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tabler RD (1974) Design guidelines for the control of blowing and drifting snow. Strategic Highway Research Program, National Research Council, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor KE, Stouffer RJ, Meehl GA (2012) An overview of CMIP5 and the experiment design. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 93:485–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vorosmarty CJ, Sahagian D (2000) Anthropogenic disturbance of the terrestrial water cycle. Bioscience 50:753–765

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker DA, Halfpenny JC, Walker MD, Wessman CA (1993) Long-term studies of snow–vegetation interactions. Bioscience 43:287–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker MD, Ingersoll RC, Webber PJ (1995) Effects of interannual climate variation on phenology and growth of 2 alpine forbs. Ecology 76:1067–1083

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker MD et al (1999) Long-term experimental manipulation of winter snow regime and summer temperature in arctic and alpine tundra. Hydrol Process 13:2315–2330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weltzin JF et al (2003) Assessing the response of terrestrial ecosystems to potential changes in precipitation. Bioscience 53:941–952

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woo MK, Marsh P (2005) Snow, frozen soils and permafrost hydrology in Canada, 1999–2002. Hydrol Process 19:215–229

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yamagishi H, Allison TD, Ohara M (2005) Effect of snowmelt timing on the genetic structure of an Erythronium grandiflorum population in an alpine environment. Ecol Res 20:199–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zierl B, Bugmann H (2005) Global change impacts on hydrological processes in Alpine catchments. Water Res Res 41:W0208. doi:10.1029/2004WR003447

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the Student Challenge Awards Program (SCAP) of Earthwatch, and the M. Theo Kearney Foundation for Soil Science for financial support. This research was also supported by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science (Biological and Environmental Research) through the Western Regional Center of the National Institute for Climatic Change Research at Northern Arizona University (Merriam-Powell Center 35UZ-01). We thank the staff of the Valentine Eastern Sierra University of California Natural Reserve for housing and other logistics. The enthusiastic assistance of David T. Tissue, Lisa Patrick Bentley, Rosa Schneider, Lucy Lynn, Jack Rusk, Charles Weiss, and numerous Earthwatch SCAP volunteers helped make this research possible. We acknowledge the modeling groups, the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Working Group on Coupled Modelling for their roles in making available the WRCP CMIP3 and CMIP5 multi-model data set. Support for these data sets is provided by the Office of Science, US Department of Energy. For CMIP the US Department of Energy’s Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison provides coordinating support and led development of software infrastructure in partnership with the Global Organization for Earth System Science Portals.

Conflict of interest

The experiments described herein comply with the current laws of the United States of America. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Alden B. Griffith

    Present address: Environmental Studies Department, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, 02481, USA

  2. Holly Alpert

    Present address: Inyo-Mono Integrated Regional Water Management Program, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 93546, USA

  3. Amy L. Concilio

    Present address: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Studies, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA

    Michael E. Loik, Alden B. Griffith, Holly Alpert, Amy L. Concilio, Catherine E. Wade & Sharon J. Martinson

Authors
  1. Michael E. Loik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alden B. Griffith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Holly Alpert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Amy L. Concilio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Catherine E. Wade
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sharon J. Martinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael E. Loik.

Additional information

Communicated by David A. Pyke.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 97 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Loik, M.E., Griffith, A.B., Alpert, H. et al. Impact of intra- versus inter-annual snow depth variation on water relations and photosynthesis for two Great Basin Desert shrubs. Oecologia 178, 403–414 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3224-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3224-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation