Grassland resilience during the warm drought of the early 21st century

Moran, M. Susan

SYMP 5-1
Grassland resilience during the warm drought of the early 21st century

Tuesday, August 12, 2014: 8:00 AM

Gardenia, Sheraton Hotel

M. Susan Moran, Southwest Watershed Research Center, USDA, ARS, Tucson, AZ

Guillermo E. Ponce-Campos, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Alfredo Huete, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

Mitchel P. McClaran, School of Natural Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Yongguang Zhang, 4Institute for Space Sciences, Freie Universitat, Berlin, Germany

Erik Hamerlynck, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, USDA-ARS, Burns, OR

David J. Augustine, Rangeland Resources and Systems Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Fort Collins, CO

Stacey A. Gunter, USDA ARS Southern Plains Range Research Station, Woodward, OK

Stanley G. Kitchen, Rocky Mountain Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, Provo, UT

Debra Peters, Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research Project, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Las Cruces, NM

Patrick J. Starks, USDA ARS Grazing Lands Research Laboratory, El Reno, OK

Mariano Hernandez, Southwest Watershed Research Center, USDA-ARS, Tucson, AZ

John D. Hottenstein, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Morgan L. Ross, Southwest Watershed Research Center, USDA-ARS, Tucson, AZ

Background/Question/Methods

Grasslands across the United States play a key role in regional livelihood and national food security. Yet, it is still unclear how this important resource will respond to the prolonged warm droughts and more intense rainfall events predicted with climate change. The early 21^st century drought in the southwestern U.S. resulted in hydroclimatic conditions that are similar to those expected with future climate change. For six US grasslands from years 2000-present, we compiled in situ measurements of surface soil moisture and precipitation, and estimates of above-ground net primary production (ANPP) derived from the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). This study addressed the impact of the early 21^st century drought on ANPP of Desert and Plains grasslands dominated by C₄ (warm-season) grasses, in terms of significant deviations between observed and expected ANPP.

Results/Conclusions

In Desert grasslands, drought-induced grass mortality led to shifts in the functional response to annual total precipitation (P_T), and in some cases, new species assemblages occurred that included invasive species. In contrast, the ANPP in Plains grasslands exhibited a strong linear function of the current-year P_Tand the previous-year ANPP, despite prolonged warm drought. The intra-annual precipitation pattern (larger storms and longer inter-storm dry periods) had a secondary impact on ANPP, and that impact was greater for Desert than for Plains grasslands. Results also showed a fundamental difference in the response of average annual soil moisture (at 5-cm depth) to intra-annual precipitation patterns between semiarid and mesic grasslands. That is, in mesic grasslands, soil moisture decreased with an increase in high-intensity storms; whereas in semiarid grasslands, soil moisture decreased with longer dry periods. We used these results to disentangle the impacts of inter-annual total precipitation, intra-annual precipitation patterns, and grassland abundance on ANPP, and thus, to generalize the functional response of C₄ grasslands to predicted climate change. Our results will help managers to plan for predictable shifts in resources associated with climate change.

SYMP 5-1 Grassland resilience during the warm drought of the early 21st century

SYMP 5-1
Grassland resilience during the warm drought of the early 21st century