Soil functional responses to drought under range-expanding and native plant communities.

ABSTRACT: Current climate warming enables plant species and soil organisms to expand their range to higher latitudes and altitudes. At the same time, climate change increases the incidence of extreme weather events such as drought. While it is expected that plants and soil organisms originating from the south are better able to cope with drought, little is known about the consequences of their range shifts on soil functioning under drought events.Here, we test how range-expanding plant species and soil communities may influence soil functioning under drought. We performed a full-factorial outdoor mesocosm experiment with plant communities of range expanders or related natives, with soil inocula from the novel or the original range, with or without summer drought. We measured litter decomposition, ca

SUBMITTER: Manrubia M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6919305 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature