Above- and belowground traits along a stress gradient:
trade-off or not?

J 2023

Above- and belowground traits along a stress gradient: trade-off or not?

BRICCA, Alessandro, Marta Gaia SPERANDII, Alicia T. R. ACOSTA, Antonio MONTAGNOLI, Greta LA BELLA et. al.

Basic information

Original name

Above- and belowground traits along a stress gradient: trade-off or not?

Authors

BRICCA, Alessandro (guarantor), Marta Gaia SPERANDII (380 Italy, belonging to the institution), Alicia T. R. ACOSTA, Antonio MONTAGNOLI, Greta LA BELLA, Mattia TERZAGHI and Marta CARBONI

Edition

Oikos, HOBOKEN, WILEY, 2023, 0030-1299

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

10511 Environmental sciences

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

URL

Impact factor

Impact factor: 3.400 in 2022

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14310/23:00132147

Organization unit

Faculty of Science

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.10043

UT WoS

001004636000001

Keywords in English

belowground traits; coastal dunes; competition; habitat filtering; root traits; stress

Abstract

V originále

The role of plant traits in shaping community assembly along environmental gradients is a topic of ongoing research. It is well accepted that plant traits of aboveground organs tend to be conservative in stressful conditions. However, there is limited understanding of how belowground traits respond. Plants may have similar strategies above and belowground, but an intriguing possibility is that there is a tradeoff between above and belowground traits of communities to both ensure efficient resource-use and limit niche overlap along the gradient. To test this, we asked whether the response of above and belowground traits of communities is coordinated or not along a stress gradient in Mediterranean sand dune communities. We analyzed 80 vegetation plots in central Italy to test for coordinated vs independent patterns in above vs belowground plant traits using community weighted mean and standardized effect size of functional richness. Our results show that plant communities close to the sea, which experience higher stress, were characterized by higher convergence towards aboveground resource conservation and conservative water-use strategies but belowground resource acquisition, consistent with a strong effect of habitat filtering and an above-belowground tradeoff favoring adaptation to harsh and dry conditions. At the opposite end of the gradient with lower stress, plants exhibited higher trait diversity for both above and belowground traits, but overall a dominance of aboveground fast resource acquisition and generally acquisitive water-use strategies, combined with conservative belowground strategies. This suggests that fast growth rate aboveground was compensated by more conservative fine-root strategies, but processes such as competition limited niche overlap overall. Our findings provide new insights into the relationship between functional traits and environmental gradients in plant communities, shedding light on the tradeoffs between the above and belowground dimensions.

Links

101090344, interní kód MU

Name: Assessing long-term trends in the vegetation of European habitats and evaluating the effectiveness of protected areas (Acronym: VegTrends)

Investor: European Union, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA PF)

Citovat

BRICCA, Alessandro, Marta Gaia SPERANDII, Alicia T. R. ACOSTA, Antonio MONTAGNOLI, Greta LA BELLA, Mattia TERZAGHI and Marta CARBONI. Above- and belowground traits along a stress gradient: trade-off or not? Oikos. HOBOKEN: WILEY, 2023, vol. 2023, No 9, p. "e010043", 12 pp. ISSN 0030-1299. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.10043.

@article{2335257,
   author = {Bricca, Alessandro and Sperandii, Marta Gaia and Acosta, Alicia T. R. and Montagnoli, Antonio and La Bella, Greta and Terzaghi, Mattia and Carboni, Marta},
   article_location = {HOBOKEN},
   article_number = {9},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.10043},
   keywords = {belowground traits; coastal dunes; competition; habitat filtering; root traits; stress},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {0030-1299},
   journal = {Oikos},
   title = {Above- and belowground traits along a stress gradient: trade-off or not?},
   url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.10043},
   volume = {2023},
   year = {2023}
}

TY  - JOUR
ID  - 2335257
AU  - Bricca, Alessandro - Sperandii, Marta Gaia - Acosta, Alicia T. R. - Montagnoli, Antonio - La Bella, Greta - Terzaghi, Mattia - Carboni, Marta
PY  - 2023
TI  - Above- and belowground traits along a stress gradient: trade-off or not?
JF  - Oikos
VL  - 2023
IS  - 9
SP  - "e010043"
EP  - "e010043"
PB  - WILEY
SN  - 00301299
KW  - belowground traits
KW  - coastal dunes
KW  - competition
KW  - habitat filtering
KW  - root traits
KW  - stress
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.10043
N2  - The role of plant traits in shaping community assembly along environmental gradients is a topic of ongoing research. It is well accepted that plant traits of aboveground organs tend to be conservative in stressful conditions. However, there is limited understanding of how belowground traits respond. Plants may have similar strategies above and belowground, but an intriguing possibility is that there is a tradeoff between above and belowground traits of communities to both ensure efficient resource-use and limit niche overlap along the gradient. To test this, we asked whether the response of above and belowground traits of communities is coordinated or not along a stress gradient in Mediterranean sand dune communities. We analyzed 80 vegetation plots in central Italy to test for coordinated vs independent patterns in above vs belowground plant traits using community weighted mean and standardized effect size of functional richness. Our results show that plant communities close to the sea, which experience higher stress, were characterized by higher convergence towards aboveground resource conservation and conservative water-use strategies but belowground resource acquisition, consistent with a strong effect of habitat filtering and an above-belowground tradeoff favoring adaptation to harsh and dry conditions. At the opposite end of the gradient with lower stress, plants exhibited higher trait diversity for both above and belowground traits, but overall a dominance of aboveground fast resource acquisition and generally acquisitive water-use strategies, combined with conservative belowground strategies. This suggests that fast growth rate aboveground was compensated by more conservative fine-root strategies, but processes such as competition limited niche overlap overall. Our findings provide new insights into the relationship between functional traits and environmental gradients in plant communities, shedding light on the tradeoffs between the above and belowground dimensions.
ER  -

BRICCA, Alessandro, Marta Gaia SPERANDII, Alicia T. R. ACOSTA, Antonio MONTAGNOLI, Greta LA BELLA, Mattia TERZAGHI and Marta CARBONI. Above- and belowground traits along a stress gradient: trade-off or not? \textit{Oikos}. HOBOKEN: WILEY, 2023, vol.~2023, No~9, p.~''e010043'', 12 pp. ISSN~0030-1299. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.10043.

Detailed Information on Publication Record