TY - JOUR

T1 - Land use modulates resistance of grasslands against future climate and inter-annual climate variability in a large field experiment

AU - Korell, Lotte

AU - Andrzejak, Martin

AU - Berger, Sigrid

AU - Durka, Walter

AU - Haider, Sylvia

AU - Hensen, Isabell

AU - Herion, Yva

AU - Höfner, Johannes

AU - Kindermann, Liana

AU - Klotz, Stefan

AU - Knight, Tiffany M.

AU - Linstädter, Anja

AU - Madaj, Anna Maria

AU - Merbach, Ines

AU - Michalski, Stefan

AU - Plos, Carolin

AU - Roscher, Christiane

AU - Schädler, Martin

AU - Welk, Erik

AU - Auge, Harald

N1 - Publisher Copyright: Global Change Biology© 2024 The Author(s). Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2024/7/1

Y1 - 2024/7/1

N2 - Climate and land-use change are key drivers of global change. Full-factorial field experiments in which both drivers are manipulated are essential to understand and predict their potentially interactive effects on the structure and functioning of grassland ecosystems. Here, we present 8 years of data on grassland dynamics from the Global Change Experimental Facility in Central Germany. On large experimental plots, temperature and seasonal patterns of precipitation are manipulated by superimposing regional climate model projections onto background climate variability. Climate manipulation is factorially crossed with agricultural land-use scenarios, including intensively used meadows and extensively used (i.e., low-intensity) meadows and pastures. Inter-annual variation of background climate during our study years was high, including three of the driest years on record for our region. The effects of this temporal variability far exceeded the effects of the experimentally imposed climate change on plant species diversity and productivity, especially in the intensively used grasslands sown with only a few grass cultivars. These changes in productivity and diversity in response to alterations in climate were due to immigrant species replacing the target forage cultivars. This shift from forage cultivars to immigrant species may impose additional economic costs in terms of a decreasing forage value and the need for more frequent management measures. In contrast, the extensively used grasslands showed weaker responses to both experimentally manipulated future climate and inter-annual climate variability, suggesting that these diverse grasslands are more resistant to climate change than intensively used, species-poor grasslands. We therefore conclude that a lower management intensity of agricultural grasslands, associated with a higher plant diversity, can stabilize primary productivity under climate change.

AB - Climate and land-use change are key drivers of global change. Full-factorial field experiments in which both drivers are manipulated are essential to understand and predict their potentially interactive effects on the structure and functioning of grassland ecosystems. Here, we present 8 years of data on grassland dynamics from the Global Change Experimental Facility in Central Germany. On large experimental plots, temperature and seasonal patterns of precipitation are manipulated by superimposing regional climate model projections onto background climate variability. Climate manipulation is factorially crossed with agricultural land-use scenarios, including intensively used meadows and extensively used (i.e., low-intensity) meadows and pastures. Inter-annual variation of background climate during our study years was high, including three of the driest years on record for our region. The effects of this temporal variability far exceeded the effects of the experimentally imposed climate change on plant species diversity and productivity, especially in the intensively used grasslands sown with only a few grass cultivars. These changes in productivity and diversity in response to alterations in climate were due to immigrant species replacing the target forage cultivars. This shift from forage cultivars to immigrant species may impose additional economic costs in terms of a decreasing forage value and the need for more frequent management measures. In contrast, the extensively used grasslands showed weaker responses to both experimentally manipulated future climate and inter-annual climate variability, suggesting that these diverse grasslands are more resistant to climate change than intensively used, species-poor grasslands. We therefore conclude that a lower management intensity of agricultural grasslands, associated with a higher plant diversity, can stabilize primary productivity under climate change.

KW - ANPP

KW - climate change

KW - community dynamics

KW - Global Change Experimental Facility

KW - grazing

KW - land-use intensity

KW - mowing

KW - plant diversity

KW - Biology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85199134293&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/2cc40ce4-ce68-3051-9e6f-48aab12bf4a0/

U2 - 10.1111/gcb.17418

DO - 10.1111/gcb.17418

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 39036882

AN - SCOPUS:85199134293

VL - 30

JO - Global Change Biology

JF - Global Change Biology

SN - 1354-1013

IS - 7

M1 - e17418

ER -