Unforeseen plant phenotypic diversity in a dry and grazed world

Abstract:

Earth harbours an extraordinary plant phenotypic diversity that is at risk from ongoing global changes,. However, it remains unknown how increasing aridity and livestock grazing pressure—two major drivers of global change, –—shape the trait covariation that underlies plant phenotypic diversity,. Here we assessed how covariation among 20 chemical and morphological traits responds to aridity and grazing pressure within global drylands. Our analysis involved 133,769 trait measurements spanning 1,347 observations of 301 perennial plant species surveyed across 326 plots from 6 continents. Crossing an aridity threshold of approximately 0.7 (close to the transition between semi-arid and arid zones) led to an unexpected 88% increase in trait diversity. This threshold appeared in the presence of grazers, and moved toward lower aridity levels with increasing grazing pressure. Moreover, 57% of observed trait …

Año de publicación:

2024

Keywords:

Fuente:

scopus

google

orcid