The sign and magnitude of tree–grass interaction along a global environmental gradient

Aim: The ecological literature posits that positive interactions are preponderant in stressful environments; however, the net balance between positive and negative interactions at the community level is still under debate. This study analysed the effect of trees on grass biomass in natural and culti...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mazía, Noemí, Moyano, Jaime, Pérez, Luis, Aguiar, Sebastián, Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro, Schlichter, Tomas Miguel
Formato: info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/1621
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.12518/abstract
_version_ 1855034829027934208
author Mazía, Noemí
Moyano, Jaime
Pérez, Luis
Aguiar, Sebastián
Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro
Schlichter, Tomas Miguel
author_browse Aguiar, Sebastián
Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro
Mazía, Noemí
Moyano, Jaime
Pérez, Luis
Schlichter, Tomas Miguel
author_facet Mazía, Noemí
Moyano, Jaime
Pérez, Luis
Aguiar, Sebastián
Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro
Schlichter, Tomas Miguel
author_sort Mazía, Noemí
collection INTA Digital
description Aim: The ecological literature posits that positive interactions are preponderant in stressful environments; however, the net balance between positive and negative interactions at the community level is still under debate. This study analysed the effect of trees on grass biomass in natural and cultivated woody systems distributed along a global aridity index (AI) gradient. Location: Global. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis including eight natural biomes and tree plantations distributed in five continents. The final database consisted of 93 data pairs across 65 locations spanning a gradient from AI = 0.1 to AI = 2.1, which covered annual precipitation ranging from 70 to 3500 mm. Effect size was calculated as the difference between above-ground grass biomass beneath and outside the tree canopy. We built linear models to evaluate the importance of different biotic and abiotic variables as potential drivers of the effect size. Multimodel inference, based on the Akaike information criterion (AICc) was used to select the best models. Results: The whole data set shows a shift from net facilitation to net competition along an increasing AI gradient. AI had the highest relative importance in explaining the sign and magnitude of the effect size. Tree characteristics (deciduous–evergreen and leguminous–non-leguminous) were the other predictive variables consistently included in almost all the 10 best models. Deciduous and leguminous trees enhanced grass biomass growing beneath them. Increasing soil sand content, C4 grasses and tropical and natural systems all increased the biomass of grasses growing beneath trees, but their relative importance was substantially lower than that of the AI and tree characteristics. Main conclusions: The results of our global meta-analysis showed that climatic context and the characteristics of benefactor trees both represent the main drivers of the sign and magnitude of tree–grass interactions. These findings may contribute to advancing knowledge of the mechanisms behind the global patterns.
format info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo
id INTA1621
institution Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina)
language Inglés
publishDate 2017
publishDateRange 2017
publishDateSort 2017
record_format dspace
spelling INTA16212021-03-09T16:00:51Z The sign and magnitude of tree–grass interaction along a global environmental gradient Mazía, Noemí Moyano, Jaime Pérez, Luis Aguiar, Sebastián Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro Schlichter, Tomas Miguel Medio Ambiente Environment Grasses Trees Gramíneas Arboles Aim: The ecological literature posits that positive interactions are preponderant in stressful environments; however, the net balance between positive and negative interactions at the community level is still under debate. This study analysed the effect of trees on grass biomass in natural and cultivated woody systems distributed along a global aridity index (AI) gradient. Location: Global. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis including eight natural biomes and tree plantations distributed in five continents. The final database consisted of 93 data pairs across 65 locations spanning a gradient from AI = 0.1 to AI = 2.1, which covered annual precipitation ranging from 70 to 3500 mm. Effect size was calculated as the difference between above-ground grass biomass beneath and outside the tree canopy. We built linear models to evaluate the importance of different biotic and abiotic variables as potential drivers of the effect size. Multimodel inference, based on the Akaike information criterion (AICc) was used to select the best models. Results: The whole data set shows a shift from net facilitation to net competition along an increasing AI gradient. AI had the highest relative importance in explaining the sign and magnitude of the effect size. Tree characteristics (deciduous–evergreen and leguminous–non-leguminous) were the other predictive variables consistently included in almost all the 10 best models. Deciduous and leguminous trees enhanced grass biomass growing beneath them. Increasing soil sand content, C4 grasses and tropical and natural systems all increased the biomass of grasses growing beneath trees, but their relative importance was substantially lower than that of the AI and tree characteristics. Main conclusions: The results of our global meta-analysis showed that climatic context and the characteristics of benefactor trees both represent the main drivers of the sign and magnitude of tree–grass interactions. These findings may contribute to advancing knowledge of the mechanisms behind the global patterns. Fil: Mazía, Noemí. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Moyano, Jaime. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Pérez, Luis. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; Argentina Fil: Schlichter, Tomas Miguel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; Argentina 2017-10-30T13:41:25Z 2017-10-30T13:41:25Z 2016-12 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/1621 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.12518/abstract 1466-822X (Print) 1466-8238 (Online) DOI: 10.1111/geb.12518 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess application/pdf Global ecology and biogeography 25 (12) : 1510–1519. (December 2016)
spellingShingle Medio Ambiente
Environment
Grasses
Trees
Gramíneas
Arboles
Mazía, Noemí
Moyano, Jaime
Pérez, Luis
Aguiar, Sebastián
Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro
Schlichter, Tomas Miguel
The sign and magnitude of tree–grass interaction along a global environmental gradient
title The sign and magnitude of tree–grass interaction along a global environmental gradient
title_full The sign and magnitude of tree–grass interaction along a global environmental gradient
title_fullStr The sign and magnitude of tree–grass interaction along a global environmental gradient
title_full_unstemmed The sign and magnitude of tree–grass interaction along a global environmental gradient
title_short The sign and magnitude of tree–grass interaction along a global environmental gradient
title_sort sign and magnitude of tree grass interaction along a global environmental gradient
topic Medio Ambiente
Environment
Grasses
Trees
Gramíneas
Arboles
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/1621
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.12518/abstract
work_keys_str_mv AT mazianoemi thesignandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT moyanojaime thesignandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT perezluis thesignandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT aguiarsebastian thesignandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT garibaldilucasalejandro thesignandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT schlichtertomasmiguel thesignandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT mazianoemi signandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT moyanojaime signandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT perezluis signandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT aguiarsebastian signandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT garibaldilucasalejandro signandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient
AT schlichtertomasmiguel signandmagnitudeoftreegrassinteractionalongaglobalenvironmentalgradient