Artículo
Land degradation affects shrub growth responses to precipitation in a semiarid rangeland of north-eastern Patagonia (Argentina)
Fecha de publicación:
05/2018
Editorial:
Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc
Revista:
Austral Ecology
ISSN:
1442-9985
Idioma:
Inglés
Tipo de recurso:
Artículo publicado
Clasificación temática:
Resumen
Arid land degradation diminishes the proportion of precipitation conducted to infiltration and increases the proportion lost to run-off and evaporation. Consequently, we expect that the effects of annual precipitation on shrub growth vary with land degradation as a result of changes in soil available water. Chuquiraga avellanedae is the dominant shrub and the main indicator of land degradation in semiarid rangelands of north-eastern Patagonia. We chose two communities with a different degree of land degradation: an herbaceous steppe with shrubs (HSS) and a degraded shrub steppe (SS). Vegetative growth of C. avellanedae was determined nondestructively using a double-sampling approach. Soil water content was estimated for the two communities using a soil water balance model. Linear regressions were used to evaluate the relationships between shrub growth and (i) annual precipitation and (ii) mean available water during the period of high vegetative growth in the soil layer that each plant community concentrates their roots. In SS, with elevated clay content, there were more roots of C. avellanedae in the upper layers of soil while in HSS, with coarse-textured soil, C. avellanedae had more roots in deeper layers. Vegetative growth of C. avellanedae, both in HSS and SS communities, was positively related to annual precipitation but, for a given precipitation, C. avellanedae presented higher vegetative growth in HSS than in SS. We also found a positive relationship between vegetative growth and soil available water, and this relationship did not differ between communities. SS presented lower water availability because of lower infiltration rates. Our results showed that, irrespective of the degree of land degradation, plants respond directly to water content of the soil layers where most roots are present at a specific window of time.
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Colecciones
Articulos(IPEEC)
Articulos de INSTITUTO PATAGONICO PARA EL ESTUDIO DE LOS ECOSISTEMAS CONTINENTALES
Articulos de INSTITUTO PATAGONICO PARA EL ESTUDIO DE LOS ECOSISTEMAS CONTINENTALES
Citación
Campanella, María Victoria; Rostagno, Cesar Mario; Videla, Lina Sonia; Bisigato, Alejandro Jorge; Land degradation affects shrub growth responses to precipitation in a semiarid rangeland of north-eastern Patagonia (Argentina); Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc; Austral Ecology; 43; 3; 5-2018; 280-287
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