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Soil Abiotic Properties Shape Plant Functional Diversity Across Temperate Grassland Plant Communities

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Abstract

There is increasing awareness that plant community functional properties can be an important driver of ecosystem functioning. However, major knowledge gaps exist about how environmental factors, especially climate and soil abiotic properties, shape plant functional diversity at a regional scale. Furthermore, at those scales the relationships between plant functional and taxonomic diversity have rarely been considered. Here, we used a large database of plant species and functional trait data from 180 temperate grasslands across England, covering a broad range of grassland types, climatic conditions and management intensities, the last having a strong influence on multiple soil variables. Our specific aims were to: (1) identify the dominant environmental factors explaining variation in different facets of plant community functional properties, including community weighted means (CWMs) of functional traits and various multi-trait functional diversity indices; and (2) test whether the relationship between plant functional and taxonomic diversity is mediated by environmental factors at a regional scale. We found that soil abiotic properties (pH and nutrient stocks), but not climate, were the main environmental factors explaining grassland plant functional diversity at a regional scale, with a significant contribution of soil nutrient stoichiometry (N/P ratio). Two indices of plant community functional properties, namely CWMs of specific leaf area and relative growth rate, were explained by interactions between soil pH and N and mean annual precipitation, soil pH soil N and soil N/P ratio. These indices were also negatively related to taxonomic diversity under certain soil abiotic conditions, specifically high soil clay content, pH and N/P. Together, our results indicate that soil abiotic properties rather than climate factors shape plant functional diversity across temperate grassland plant communities at a regional scale. They also suggest that interactions between environmental factors play a significant role in shaping patterns of plant community functional properties. Our findings are of importance for the design and interpretation of future studies using trait and diversity measures as proxies of ecosystem services at regional scales.

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Acknowledgements

Writing of this paper was possible thanks to the projects from the Spanish Science Foundation BIOGEI (CGL2013-49142-C2-1-R) and IMAGINE (CGL2017-85490-R), and a PhD Fellowship and Research Stay by the University of Lleida to AR. Data collection was funded by a DEFRA grant awarded to a consortium led by RDB (BD1451) with Jerry Tallowin, Simon Mortimer and Robert Shiel and Roger Smith. RDB was also supported by a grant from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (Grant BB/I009000/2), and FTDV was supported by a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship (BB/L02456X/1). We thank MPI-BGC Jena, who host TRY, and the international funding networks supporting TRY (IGBP, DIVERSITAS, GLP, NERC, QUEST, FRB and GIS Climate).

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  1. Antonio Rodríguez

    Present address: Université Clermont Auververgne, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, UREP, 63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Group GAMES, Department of Horticulture, Botany and Landscaping, School of Agrifood and Forestry Science and Engineering, University of Lleida, Alcalde Rovira-Roure Street, 191, 25198, Lleida, Spain

    Antonio Rodríguez & M. Teresa Sebastià

  2. Laboratory of Functional Ecology and Global Change (ECOFUN), Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), Solsona, Spain

    Antonio Rodríguez & M. Teresa Sebastià

  3. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK

    Franciska T. de Vries & Richard D. Bardgett

  4. Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Franciska T. de Vries

  5. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Peter Manning

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  1. Antonio Rodríguez
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  2. Franciska T. de Vries
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  3. Peter Manning
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  4. M. Teresa Sebastià
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  5. Richard D. Bardgett
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonio Rodríguez.

Additional information

Author contributions This study was initiated by AR, MTS, FDV and RDB. The collection of field data was led by RDB, and plant trait data were compiled by FDV and PM. Data analyses were carried out by AR with assistance from FDV and RDB, and AR led the paper writing with contributions from all co-authors. MTS supervised and gained funding to support AR.

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Rodríguez, A., de Vries, F.T., Manning, P. et al. Soil Abiotic Properties Shape Plant Functional Diversity Across Temperate Grassland Plant Communities. Ecosystems 26, 1000–1017 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-022-00812-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-022-00812-2

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