Tritrophic mutualisms in a changing climate
Abstract
Warmer than average temperatures and decreased annual precipitation caused by climate change are affecting the growth and reproduction of many species, including flowering plants. Climatic shifts may affect angiosperm functional traits, such as water use efficiency and nectar sugar concentration, which can in turn alter the strength and incidence of interactions between plants and their mutualists. Climatic stress can separate mutualists, leading to additional alterations in partner traits which may have consequences for plant fitness. Here, we explore how warming temperatures, early snowmelt, and below-average annual precipitation (snow and summer monsoonal rains) can affect plant functional traits such as water use efficiency and lead to a loss of interaction with symbiotic rhizobia, thereby altering legume nitrogen content and leaf carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures. In a snowmelt manipulative experiment, we found that early snowmelt increased nectar sugar concentrations, reduced plant total nitrogen, shifted the activity and phenology of plant-important rhizobia, and decreased legume water use efficiency relative to ambient snowmelt conditions. Decreased soil nitrogen inputs from senescing legume plants may alter competitive outcomes and growth rates of heterospecific plants in the local area. Additionally, an analysis of historical herbarium specimens revealed that warmer, drier conditions over time are associated with a loss of interactions between legumes and rhizobia and decreased plant water use efficiency. These two independent lines of evidence suggest that changing climate may destabilize mutualistic interactions and shift plant functional traits, ultimately affecting nitrogen inputs and plant community dynamics. 8
Local Knowledge Graph (30 entities)
Related Works
Items connected by shared entities, co-authorship, citations, or semantic similarity.
From the ground up: Building predictions for how climate change will affect belowground mutualisms, floral traits, and bee behavior
Legume germination is delayed in dry soils and in sterile soils devoid of microbial mutualists: Species-specific implications for upward range expansions
Earlier snow melt and reduced summer precipitation alter floral traits important to pollination
Data from: The individual and combined effects of snowmelt timing and frost exposure on the reproductive success of montane forbs
Phenological responses to multiple environmental drivers under climate change: insights from a long-term observational study and a manipulative field experiment
Data from: Comparative impacts of long-term trends in snowmelt and species interactions on plant population dynamics
Grasses and Legumes for Soil Conservation In The Pacific Northwest and Great Basin States
Shrubland Ecosystem Genetics And Biodiversity: Proceedings
Response of a Depleted Sagebrush Steppe Riparian System to Grazing Control and Woody Plantings
References (372)
20 in Knowledge Hub, 352 external