Unproductive grasslands resist climate change and help native species

by William Atkins

Tuesday, 05 August 2008

Page 1 of 2 ! According to a long-duration U.S./U.K. study of an English grassland, the least productive grasslands in the world are likely to be the most resistant to major changes to the climate while, at the time, provide a much needed “sanctuary” to native plants and animals. American biologist Jason D. Fridley, of Syracuse University (New York, United States) and colleagues published their conclusions in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Their PNAS article entitled “Long-term resistance to simulated climate change in an infertile grassland” appeared online on July 7, 2008 and in print on July 22, 2008 (volume 105, number 29, 10028-10032). Its authors include J. Philip Grime, Jason Fridley, Andrew Askew, Ken Thompson, John Hodgson, and Chris Bennett. The affiliations of the authors include the Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom (U.K.); the Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, U.S.A.; and the Peak Science and Environment, Station House, Leadmill, Hathersage, Hope Valley, U.K. The abstract to their journal article states, “Climate shifts over this century are widely expected to alter the structure and functioning of temperate plant communities. However, long-term climate experiments in natural vegetation are rare and largely confined to systems with the capacity for rapid compositional change. In unproductive, grazed grassland at Buxton in northern England (U.K.), one of the longest running experimental manipulations of temperature and rainfall reveals vegetation highly resistant to climate shifts maintained over 13 yr.” Specifically, for thirteen years, Fridley’s team artificially warmed parts of a nutrient-poor English grassland in Buxton (northern England) during its cold winters and either increased rainfall or decreased rainfall to simulate drought during its warm summers. Such human-made alterations in the grasslands, according to the researchers, did not cause very many differences in the composition of species within the grasslands. Please read page two for more information on the study. << First page <   1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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