The Effects of Early Snowmelt on Drought Stress in Subalpine Plant Species
Abstract
Subalpine plant species rely on water from snowmelt and monsoons to sustain them through the summer. However, climate change is causing the snow to melt earlier which creates a drought period in June prior to the monsoons and may cause plants to become drought stressed. In order to assess the effect of early snowmelt on subalpine plant drought stress, we conducted a snowmelt timing manipulation using shade cloth to accelerate the timing of snowmelt. To assess the degree of drought stress we measured . stomatal conductance in Linum lewisii and Geum triflorum, chlorophyll fluorescence in Geum triflorum, and the number of flowers on each plant. We found that early snowmelt had no effect on drought stress in L. lewisii and G. triflorum as we saw no differences in stomatal conductance, chlorophyll fluorescence nor stomatal conductance over the flowering period. The lack of drought stress, even with earlier snowmelt, may be due to the large amount of June precipitation which gave the plants adequate water to sustain themselves through the drought period previously seen. This suggests that precipitation has a large impact on subalpine plant species, so it is important to monitor how timing and amount of precipitation affects plants in a changing climate.
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References (12)
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