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Will trees or grasses profit from changing rainfall regimes in savannas?

Title data

Wigley, Benjamin J. ; Coetsee, Corli ; February, Edmund C. ; Dobelmann, Svenja ; Higgins, Steven:
Will trees or grasses profit from changing rainfall regimes in savannas?
In: New Phytologist. Vol. 241 (2024) Issue 6 . - pp. 2379-2394.
ISSN 1469-8137
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19538

Official URL: Volltext

Project information

Project financing: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Abstract in another language

Summary Increasing rainfall variability is widely expected under future climate change scenarios. How will savanna trees and grasses be affected by growing season dry spells and altered seasonality and how tightly coupled are tree–grass phenologies with rainfall? We measured tree and grass responses to growing season dry spells and dry season rainfall. We also tested whether the phenologies of 17 deciduous woody species and the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index of grasses were related to rainfall between 2019 and 2023. Tree and grass growth was significantly reduced during growing season dry spells. Tree growth was strongly related to growing season soil water potentials and limited to the wet season. Grasses can rapidly recover after growing season dry spells and grass evapotranspiration was significantly related to soil water potentials in both the wet and dry seasons. Tree leaf flushing commenced before the rainfall onset date with little subsequent leaf flushing. Grasses grew when moisture became available regardless of season. Our findings suggest that increased dry spell length and frequency in the growing season may slow down tree growth in some savannas, which together with longer growing seasons may allow grasses an advantage over C₃ plants that are advantaged by rising CO₂ levels.

Further data

Item Type: Article in a journal
Refereed: Yes
Keywords: changing seasonality of rainfall; growing season dry spell; phenology; rainfall variability; savanna; SAVI; temporal niche separation; tree–grass coexistence
Institutions of the University: Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology > Chair Plant Ecology > Chair Plant Ecology - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Steven Ian Higgins
Faculties
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology > Chair Plant Ecology
Result of work at the UBT: Yes
DDC Subjects: 500 Science > 570 Life sciences, biology
500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)
Date Deposited: 08 Jun 2024 21:00
Last Modified: 10 Jun 2024 05:40
URI: https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/89706