Effect of climate extremes and grazing on functional traits of a grassland community: insights from a 20-year experiment

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41330%2F25%3A103015" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41330/25:103015 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://academic.oup.com/aob/article-abstract/136/1/129/8105424" target="_blank" >https://academic.oup.com/aob/article-abstract/136/1/129/8105424</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf059" target="_blank" >10.1093/aob/mcaf059</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Effect of climate extremes and grazing on functional traits of a grassland community: insights from a 20-year experiment

Original language description

Background and Aims Climate change, particularly the increased frequency of extreme climatic events, poses significant challenges to the biodiversity and functionality of semi-natural grasslands. However, the response of plant functional traits of grassland communities to climate extremes is still an unresolved issue. Using data from a long-term experiment, we aimed to characterize the functional response of a grassland community to simultaneous long-term effects of grazing and climate extremes.Methods For a 20-year period, we monitored the species composition of grazed and ungrazed grassland plots. We measured functional traits defining the leaf economics spectrum (LES) and the hydraulic safety-efficiency (HSE) trade-offs, and we identified the temporal dynamics of single traits at the community level as well as the changes in functional strategies among grazed and ungrazed communities. Then, we assessed the role of climatic extremes in driving the changes in functional composition.Key Results Grazed plots, in the first few years, were dominated by fast-growing species with more acquisitive strategies compared with ungrazed plots. However, both communities showed a reorganization in functional structure over time, pointing towards a selection of trait combinations favouring more conservative, stress-tolerant strategies. The joint effect of grazing and climate extremes significantly altered the functional composition of the grazed community, leading to a shift from species with grazing-tolerant traits to species with grazing-avoidant, and drought-tolerant, traits.Conclusions We found that grazing pressure generally promoted functional diversity but led to rapid shifts in community composition when combined with prolonged drought events. In contrast, the ungrazed community, dominated by species with conservative resource-use strategies, showed more stable functional richness and divergence, as well as a reduced sensitivity to climatic extremes. These results underscore the importance of carefully evaluating grazing in the context of climate change, particularly to guide restoration and conservation efforts.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

Project

—

Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Annals of Botany

ISSN

0305-7364

e-ISSN

0305-7364

Volume of the periodical

136

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

11

Pages from-to

129-139

UT code for WoS article

001481992700001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105014770525