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Effects of Warming, Summer Drought, and CO2 Enrichment on Aboveground Biomass Production, Flowering Phenology, and Community Structure in an Upland Grassland Ecosystem

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Abstract

Future climate scenarios predict simultaneous changes in environmental conditions, but the impacts of multiple climate change drivers on ecosystem structure and function remain unclear. We used a novel experimental approach to examine the responses of an upland grassland ecosystem to the 2080 climate scenario predicted for the study area (3.5°C temperature increase, 20% reduction in summer precipitation, atmospheric CO2 levels of 600 ppm) over three growing seasons. We also assessed whether patterns of grassland response to a combination of climate change treatments could be forecast by ecosystem responses to single climate change drivers. Effects of climate change on aboveground production showed considerable seasonal and interannual variation; April biomass increased in response to both warming and the simultaneous application of warming, summer drought, and CO2 enrichment, whereas October biomass responses were either non-significant or negative depending on the year. Negative impacts of summer drought on production were only observed in combination with a below-average rainfall regime, and showed lagged effects on spring biomass. Elevated CO2 had no significant effect on aboveground biomass during this study. Both warming and the 2080 climate change scenario were associated with a significant advance in flowering time for the dominant grass species studied. However, flowering phenology showed no significant response to either summer drought or elevated CO2. Species diversity and equitability showed no response to climate change treatments throughout this study. Overall, our data suggest that single-factor warming experiments may provide valuable information for projections of future ecosystem changes in cool temperate grasslands.

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Acknowledgments

We thank C. Picon-Cochard and F. Giacomoni for assistance with monolith transplantation and site management. Thanks also to A. Cantarel for help with data collection and JM. Dreuillaux for help with species identification. This study was supported by a CNRS postdoctoral fellowship to JMGB, an IFB-GICC project grant, and an ANR project grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, UR874-Grassland Ecosystem Research Unit, 234 Avenue du Brézet, 63100, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Juliette M. G. Bloor, Patrick Pichon, Robert Falcimagne & Jean-François Soussana

  2. Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, UMR CNRS 8079, Université Paris-Sud, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France

    Paul Leadley

Authors
  1. Juliette M. G. Bloor
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  2. Patrick Pichon
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  3. Robert Falcimagne
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  4. Paul Leadley
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  5. Jean-François Soussana
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Correspondence to Juliette M. G. Bloor.

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Author Contributions

JMGB conducted fieldwork, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript. PP conducted fieldwork. RF contributed new methods. PL contributed to study design and funding. JFS conceived and oversaw the study.

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Bloor, J.M.G., Pichon, P., Falcimagne, R. et al. Effects of Warming, Summer Drought, and CO2 Enrichment on Aboveground Biomass Production, Flowering Phenology, and Community Structure in an Upland Grassland Ecosystem. Ecosystems 13, 888–900 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-010-9363-0

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