Intermediate coupling between aboveground and belowground biomass maximises the persistence of grasslands.

Aboveground and belowground biomass compartments of vegetation fulfil different functions and they are coupled by complex interactions. These compartments exchange water, carbon and nutrients and the belowground biomass compartment has the capacity to buffer vegetation dynamics when aboveground biom...

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Autores principales:	Simon Scheiter, Steven I Higgins
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/9c4da7b1add94606a47af4f07ab47ae9
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:9c4da7b1add94606a47af4f07ab47ae92021-11-18T07:47:39ZIntermediate coupling between aboveground and belowground biomass maximises the persistence of grasslands.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0061149https://doaj.org/article/9c4da7b1add94606a47af4f07ab47ae92013-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23637792/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Aboveground and belowground biomass compartments of vegetation fulfil different functions and they are coupled by complex interactions. These compartments exchange water, carbon and nutrients and the belowground biomass compartment has the capacity to buffer vegetation dynamics when aboveground biomass is removed by disturbances such as herbivory or fire. However, despite their importance, root-shoot interactions are often ignored in more heuristic vegetation models. Here, we present a simple two-compartment grassland model that couples aboveground and belowground biomass. In this model, the growth of belowground biomass is influenced by aboveground biomass and the growth of aboveground biomass is influenced by belowground biomass. We used the model to explore how the dynamics of a grassland ecosystem are influenced by fire and grazing. We show that the grassland system is most persistent at intermediate levels of aboveground-belowground coupling. In this situation, the system can sustain more extreme fire or grazing regimes than in the case of strong coupling. In contrast, the productivity of the system is maximised at high levels of coupling. Our analysis suggests that the yield of a grassland ecosystem is maximised when coupling is strong, however, the intensity of disturbance that can be sustained increases dramatically when coupling is intermediate. Hence, the model predicts that intermediate coupling should be selected for as it maximises the chances of persistence in disturbance driven ecosystems.Simon ScheiterSteven I HigginsPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 4, p e61149 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Simon Scheiter Steven I Higgins Intermediate coupling between aboveground and belowground biomass maximises the persistence of grasslands.
description	Aboveground and belowground biomass compartments of vegetation fulfil different functions and they are coupled by complex interactions. These compartments exchange water, carbon and nutrients and the belowground biomass compartment has the capacity to buffer vegetation dynamics when aboveground biomass is removed by disturbances such as herbivory or fire. However, despite their importance, root-shoot interactions are often ignored in more heuristic vegetation models. Here, we present a simple two-compartment grassland model that couples aboveground and belowground biomass. In this model, the growth of belowground biomass is influenced by aboveground biomass and the growth of aboveground biomass is influenced by belowground biomass. We used the model to explore how the dynamics of a grassland ecosystem are influenced by fire and grazing. We show that the grassland system is most persistent at intermediate levels of aboveground-belowground coupling. In this situation, the system can sustain more extreme fire or grazing regimes than in the case of strong coupling. In contrast, the productivity of the system is maximised at high levels of coupling. Our analysis suggests that the yield of a grassland ecosystem is maximised when coupling is strong, however, the intensity of disturbance that can be sustained increases dramatically when coupling is intermediate. Hence, the model predicts that intermediate coupling should be selected for as it maximises the chances of persistence in disturbance driven ecosystems.
format	article
author	Simon Scheiter Steven I Higgins
author_facet	Simon Scheiter Steven I Higgins
author_sort	Simon Scheiter
title	Intermediate coupling between aboveground and belowground biomass maximises the persistence of grasslands.
title_short	Intermediate coupling between aboveground and belowground biomass maximises the persistence of grasslands.
title_full	Intermediate coupling between aboveground and belowground biomass maximises the persistence of grasslands.
title_fullStr	Intermediate coupling between aboveground and belowground biomass maximises the persistence of grasslands.
title_full_unstemmed	Intermediate coupling between aboveground and belowground biomass maximises the persistence of grasslands.
title_sort	intermediate coupling between aboveground and belowground biomass maximises the persistence of grasslands.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/9c4da7b1add94606a47af4f07ab47ae9
work_keys_str_mv	AT simonscheiter intermediatecouplingbetweenabovegroundandbelowgroundbiomassmaximisesthepersistenceofgrasslands AT stevenihiggins intermediatecouplingbetweenabovegroundandbelowgroundbiomassmaximisesthepersistenceofgrasslands
_version_	1718422928377249792

Intermediate coupling between aboveground and belowground biomass maximises the persistence of grasslands.

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