Digging into the roots: understanding direct and indirect drivers of ecosystem service trade-offs in coastal grasslands via plant functional traits

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Authors

Recent empirical and theoretical approaches have called for an understanding of the processes underpinning ecosystem service provision. Environmental gradients have shown effects on key plant functional traits that subsequently explain ecosystem properties of several systems. However, little is known concerning how associations between plant functional traits, including both below- and aboveground plant components, predict ecosystem properties and independently measured final ecosystem services. Here, we modeled (1) the responses of the leaf and plant economics spectrum, Plant size axis, and root growth to environmental gradients and (2) how associations between plant functional traits explain trade-offs and synergies between multiple ecosystem properties and final services. Forty-four plots were studied in a coastal marsh landscape of the German North Sea Coast. We used a partial least square structural equation model approach to test the hypothesized model. We found (1) a negative covariation between plant traits pertaining to a size axis and traits explaining both plant growth (roots and stems) and the leaf economics spectrum; (2) this trade-off responded significantly to the land use gradient and nutrient availability, which were both strongly driven by the groundwater gradient; (3) this trade-off explained an initial major trade-off between carbon stocks, at one extreme of the axis, and both the habitat value to conserve endangered plants and forage production for meat and dairy products at the other extreme. However, a secondary trade-off between nature conservation value and forage production, explained by a trade-off between leaf economics spectrum and plant growth in response to the land use intensity gradient, was also found.

Original languageEnglish
Article number271
JournalEnvironmental Monitoring and Assessment
Volume193
Issue numberSUPPL 1
ISSN0167-6369
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.04.2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Michael Kleyer for comments on earlier versions of this paper. We want thank the administration of the Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer and the County of Aurich that allowed fieldwork in protected areas. We also thank the farmers for allowing us to access their properties and for the interviews, Cord Peppler-Lisbach for help with species’ identification and statistical support, Sarah Witte for the analysis of a subset of soil samples, and the technicians and students for their help in the laboratory. This project was part of the collaborative research project “Sustainable coastal land management: Trade-offs in ecosystem services” (COMTESS), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant 01LL0911). Manuscript language services were provided by www.stels-ol.de.

Funding Information:
We thank Michael Kleyer for comments on earlier versions of this paper. We want thank the administration of the Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer and the County of Aurich that allowed fieldwork in protected areas. We also thank the farmers for allowing us to access their properties and for the interviews, Cord Peppler-Lisbach for help with species’ identification and statistical support, Sarah Witte for the analysis of a subset of soil samples, and the technicians and students for their help in the laboratory. This project was part of the collaborative research project “Sustainable coastal land management: Trade-offs in ecosystem services” (COMTESS), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant 01LL0911). Manuscript language services were provided by www.stels-ol.de .

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

    Research areas

  • Biodiversity effects, Functional ecology, Grassland communities, Land use intensification, Leaf economics spectrum, Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), Plant-soil interactions, Root traits, Trait-based approach

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