Primary Production

Abstract

The production of biomass by plants is of central importance to energy, carbon, and nutrient fluxes in ecosystems. Knowledge of the spatial and temporal variation of production and the underlying biotic and physical controls on this variation are central themes in ecosystem science. The goals of this chapter are to present the estimates of spatial patterns in above- and belowground production associated with the major community types found on Niwot Ridge and other alpine areas of the southern Rocky Mountains and to examine the likely environmental causes and underlying mechanisms responsible for spatial and temporal variation in production as elucidated by experimental and observational studies. Rates of primary production and standing crops of plant biomass are low in alpine tundra relative to other ecosystem types (Lieth and Whittaker 1975; Zak et al. 1994). However, within communities (i.e., at the plot level), there is large variation in rates of production, the degree of biotic control over response to environmental change, and the principal environmental constraints of primary production. As a result, the alpine is one of the most dynamic ecosystems for research. For example, there is a tenfold difference in annual aboveground production between the most and least productive sites with continuous plant cover on Niwot Ridge. In addition, the high plant diversity is a source of potential variation in physiological and developmental control of plant response to the environment. Dominant species include sedges, grasses, shrubs, and forbs, among which are N2-fixing Trifolium species. Nearly all of the dominant species may be mycorrhizal. Soil moisture, a driving force for many biotic processes, may vary by an order of magnitude between wet and dry sites following prolonged periods of drought. Thus the alpine tundra of Niwot Ridge, which might appear superficially homogeneous, in fact has complex physical and biotic gradients. This spatial variation prevents simple generalizations about single limiting resources or climatic driving forces determining spatial and temporal variation in productivity. Billings (1973) defined the mesotopographic gradient as a working unit for describing the alpine landscape, as it encompasses the full range of snow accumulation and associated microclimates and thus biological diversity.