A meta-analysis of the responses of woody and herbaceous plants to elevated ultraviolet-B radiation

Abstract

Numerous studies have examined plant responses to elevated ultraviolet-B radiation at the species level. More than 140 studies conducted within the past three decades were collected for meta-analysis to generalize and examine overall responses of two main life-forms, woody plants and herbaceous plants under two supplemental UV-B levels. The analysis suggested that both life-forms would suffer an overall negative effect in total biomass under the two UV-B levels, and the reduction was 7.0–14.6% of the value at ambient UV-B radiation. Comparing the overall responses under the high supplemental UV-B level with those under the low supplemental UV-B level, woody plants showed no significant changes in any variables. As opposed to this, decreases in herbaceous plant height and specific leaf area as well as increase in herbaceous UV-B-absorbing compounds under the higher UV-B level were significantly greater than those under the lower UV-B level. With continued increases in UV-B levels, the two life-forms would show different response strategies for their different intrinsic capabilities to resist UV-B damage. Woody plants would not invest in large additional amounts of UV-B-absorbing compounds, while herbaceous plants would need to induce stronger defense mechanisms to protect themselves from the associated detrimental effects of UV-B radiation. A higher number of response variables were significantly affected by UV-B radiation for herbaceous plants than for woody plants. Most of the studied variables were not affected significantly under elevated UV-B for woody plants and exhibited very large confidence intervals. Further studies should investigate if the response to elevated UV-B radiation varies between different functional groups of woody species. To sum up, we suggest that as UV-B radiation continues to increase, grassland ecosystems should receive more attention for future vegetation management.