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Experimental separation of resource quantity from temporal variability: seedling responses to water pulses

  • Pulse Events and Arid Ecosystems
  • Published:
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Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that higher temporal variability in water supply will promote higher species richness of germinating and surviving seedlings using assemblages of 70 species of herbaceous plants from limestone pavement habitats. In a two-factor greenhouse experiment, doubling the total volume of water added led to greater germination (measured as number of germinated seeds and species) and establishment (survival and biomass) but the effects of temporal variability depended on the response variable considered. Low pulse frequencies of water addition with total volume added held constant resulted in greater temporal variability in soil moisture concentration that in turn promoted higher density and richness of germinated seedlings. Low pulse frequencies caused an eight-fold greater mortality in the low total volume treatment and biomass production to decline by one-third in the high total volume treatment. The effects of increasing temporal variability in water supply during recruitment stages can thus be opposite on different components of plant fitness and may also depend on total resource quantity. While greater species richness in more temporally variable soil moisture conditions was attributable to sampling effects rather than species-specific responses to the water treatments, species relative abundances did vary significantly with temporal variability. Changes in the amplitude or frequency of resource fluctuations may alter recruitment patterns, and could have severe and relatively rapid effects on community structure in unproductive ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Peter Kotanen, Sean Blaney, Margy De Gruchy, Cherie-Lee Fietsch, Pete Clarke, Sabine Girard, Sylvain Thévenet, Loui Polic and Lianne Yoshida for collecting seeds. John Gerrath, Suzanne Waters, Michael Pavone, Brooke Thiessen, Stacey Koebel, Pete Kelly, and Kevin Stevens assisted in the greenhouse. We thank two anonymous reviewers for critical comments on the manuscript. We are indebted to Uta Matthes, Deborah Goldberg and Beren Robinson for statistical advice and NSERC and Parks Canada for financial assistance.

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  1. Jeremy T. Lundholm

    Present address: Department of Biology, St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada

    Jeremy T. Lundholm & Douglas W. Larson

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  1. Jeremy T. Lundholm
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  2. Douglas W. Larson
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Correspondence to Jeremy T. Lundholm.

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Lundholm, J.T., Larson, D.W. Experimental separation of resource quantity from temporal variability: seedling responses to water pulses. Oecologia 141, 346–352 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1454-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1454-6

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