No lasting effects of a severe drought event on plant community composition in experimental grassland

TY - JOUR

T1 - No lasting effects of a severe drought event on plant community composition in experimental grassland

AU - Damgaard, Christian

AU - Strandberg, Beate

AU - Ehlers, Bodil

AU - Hansen, Rikke Reisner

AU - Strandberg, Morten Tune

PY - 2024/9

Y1 - 2024/9

N2 - The effect of severe drought in the summer 2018 on the plant community composition and overall diversity was investigated in a replicated long-term grassland experiment where nitrogen availability was manipulated. The possible plant community response to the drought and the possible role of selected plant traits were investigated using model-based ordination techniques, which were tailored to the sampled pin-point cover data. Contrary to our prior expectation, that the severe drought had lasting effects on the plant community, we could not detect any significant effects of the severe drought on the plant community composition or Hill–Shannon diversity the following year and 3 years later. Furthermore, we did not detect any significant mediating effect of nitrogen on the possible effects of severe drought. The possible reasons for the observed high resistance of the grassland community to the severe drought event are discussed. Lasting effects of drought on plant communities cannot be predicted from observations during or immediately after the drought.

AB - The effect of severe drought in the summer 2018 on the plant community composition and overall diversity was investigated in a replicated long-term grassland experiment where nitrogen availability was manipulated. The possible plant community response to the drought and the possible role of selected plant traits were investigated using model-based ordination techniques, which were tailored to the sampled pin-point cover data. Contrary to our prior expectation, that the severe drought had lasting effects on the plant community, we could not detect any significant effects of the severe drought on the plant community composition or Hill–Shannon diversity the following year and 3 years later. Furthermore, we did not detect any significant mediating effect of nitrogen on the possible effects of severe drought. The possible reasons for the observed high resistance of the grassland community to the severe drought event are discussed. Lasting effects of drought on plant communities cannot be predicted from observations during or immediately after the drought.

KW - Effect of drought

KW - Hierarchical model

KW - Latent variable model

KW - Model-based ordination

KW - Nitrogen

KW - Pin-point cover data

KW - Plant community composition

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85193549878&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10651-024-00613-x

DO - 10.1007/s10651-024-00613-x

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1573-3009

VL - 31

SP - 691

EP - 706

JO - Environmental and Ecological Statistics

JF - Environmental and Ecological Statistics

IS - 3

ER -