Experimental warming causes mismatches in alpine plant-microbe-fauna phenology.

ABSTRACT: Long-term observations have shown that many plants and aboveground animals have changed their phenology patterns due to warmer temperatures over the past decades. However, empirical evidence for phenological shifts in alpine organisms, particularly belowground organisms, is scarce. Here, we investigate how the activities and phenology of plants, soil microbes, and soil fauna will respond to warming in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau, and whether their potential phenological changes will be synchronized. We experimentally simulate an increase in soil temperature by 2-4 °C according to future projections for this region. We find that warming promotes plant growth, soil microbial respiration, and soil fauna feeding by 8%, 57%, and 20%, respectively, but causes dissimilar changes in th

SUBMITTER: Yin R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10105701 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature