Abstract
BackgroundCurrent and future changes in rainfall amount and frequency may particularly impact annual plants in desert ecosystems. The winter annual Echinops gmelinii Turcz. is widely distributed in the desert habitats of northern China and is a dominant pioneer annual plant following sand stabilization in the Tengger Desert. This species plays a vital role in dune stabilization during spring and early summer, when wind erosion is the most severe and frequent. However, seedling emergence and regeneration in sandy soil are mainly determined by rainfall patterns. Therefore, understanding the life history response of this species to rainfall variation is necessary for understanding the change of population dynamics under the future climate change.MethodsA field simulation rainfall pot experiment using rainout shelter was conducted that included five amounts and five frequencies of rainfall based on historical and predicted values to monitor the life history responses of E. gmelinii in a near-natural habitat.ResultsWe found that rainfall amount and frequency significantly affected seedling survival, growth and reproduction. The plant height, biomass, capitula number, seed number, seed mass and reproductive effort, but not the root/shoot ratio, significantly increased with increasing rainfall. Further, these traits exhibited the greatest response to low-frequency and larger rainfall events, especially the optimal rainfall frequency of 10-day intervals. Offspring seed germination showed increasing trends with decreasing rainfall, suggesting that the maternal effects may have occurred.ConclusionsOur study shows that the plasticity in growth and reproduction of E. gmelinii in response to rainfall variations may help it to gain dominance in the harsh and unpredictable desert environment. Furthermore, population development of this winter annual species should be promoted under the likely future scenarios of large rainfall events and increasing cool-season precipitation in temperate desert.
Highlights
Global climate change is predicted to further increase variation in rainfall, with more extreme rainfall events punctuated by longer intervening dry periods and changes inHow to cite this article Wang Y, Li X, Liu L, Zhao J, Sun J. 2019
At a field site in the Tengger Desert, we found that the population dynamics of E. gmelinii were very sensitive to rainfall variation (Wang et al, 2019b); the species may be threatened by climate change
The aims of this study were to answer the following questions: (1) How are the survivorship, growth, and reproduction of E. gmelinii affected by variation in rainfall pattern? (2) Do changes in the maternal environment caused by different rainfall amounts and frequencies influence the offspring seed germination? We hypothesized that (H1) E. gmelinii shows plasticity in the life history traits in response to the different environment resulting from rainfall treatments; (H2) the effect of maternal environment on offspring germination; (H3) likely future scenarios of increasing cool-season precipitation and large rainfall events will enhance the growth of winter annuals in temperate desert
Summary
Global climate change is predicted to further increase variation in rainfall, with more extreme rainfall events punctuated by longer intervening dry periods and changes inHow to cite this article Wang Y, Li X, Liu L, Zhao J, Sun J. 2019. These shifts in rainfall should have greater effects on plant community composition in arid and semiarid ecosystems, where precipitation is scarce and there is high inter- and intra-annual variability (Noy-Meir, 1973; Muldavin et al, 2008; Báez et al, 2013; Chen et al, 2019b). The plant height, biomass, capitula number, seed number, seed mass and reproductive effort, but not the root/shoot ratio, significantly increased with increasing rainfall These traits exhibited the greatest response to low-frequency and larger rainfall events, especially the optimal rainfall frequency of 10-day intervals. Population development of this winter annual species should be promoted under the likely future scenarios of large rainfall events and increasing cool-season precipitation in temperate desert
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
