Plant functional types do not predict biomass responses to removal and fertilization in Alaskan tussock tundra.

ABSTRACT: Plant communities in natural ecosystems are changing and species are being lost due to anthropogenic impacts including global warming and increasing nitrogen (N) deposition. We removed dominant species, combinations of species and entire functional types from Alaskan tussock tundra, in the presence and absence of fertilization, to examine the effects of non-random species loss on plant interactions and ecosystem functioning.After 6 years, growth of remaining species had compensated for biomass loss due to removal in all treatments except the combined removal of moss, Betula nana and Ledum palustre (MBL), which removed the most biomass. Total vascular plant production returned to control levels in all removal treatments, including MBL. Inorganic soil nutrient availability, as indexed by res

SUBMITTER: Bret-Harte MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2438444 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature