Does a decade of elevated [CO2] affect a desert perennial plant community?

Understanding the effects of elevated [CO2 ] on plant community structure is crucial to predicting ecosystem responses to global change. Early predictions suggested that productivity in deserts would increase via enhanced water-use efficiency under elevated [CO2], but the response of intact arid plant communities to elevated [CO2 ] is largely unknown. We measured changes in perennial plant community characteristics (cover, species richness and diversity) after 10 yr of elevated [CO2] exposure in an intact Mojave Desert community at the Nevada Desert Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) Facility. Contrary to expectations, total cover, species richness, and diversity were not affected by elevated [CO2]. Over the course of the experiment, elevated [CO2] had no effect on changes in cover of the evergreen C3 shrub, Larrea tridentata; alleviated decreases in cover of the C4 bunchgrass, Pleuraphis rigida; and slightly reduced the cover of C3 drought-deciduous shrubs. Thus, we generally found no effect of elevated [CO2] on plant communities in this arid ecosystem. Extended drought, slow plant growth rates, and highly episodic germination and recruitment of new individuals explain the lack of strong perennial plant community shifts after a decade of elevated [CO2].

Long-term response of a Mojave Desert winter annual plant community to a whole-ecosystem atmospheric CO2 manipulation (FACE).

Desert annuals are a critically important component of desert communities and may be particularly responsive to increasing atmospheric (CO2 ) because of their high potential growth rates and flexible phenology. During the 10-year life of the Nevada Desert FACE (free-air CO2 enrichment) Facility, we evaluated the productivity, reproductive allocation, and community structure of annuals in response to long-term elevated (CO2 ) exposure. The dominant forb and grass species exhibited accelerated phenology, increased size, and higher reproduction at elevated (CO2 ) in a wet El Niño year near the beginning of the experiment. However, a multiyear dry cycle resulted in no increases in productivity or reproductive allocation for the remainder of the experiment. At the community level, early indications of increased dominance of the invasive Bromus rubens at elevated (CO2 ) gave way to an absence of Bromus in the community during a drought cycle, with a resurgence late in the experiment in response to higher rainfall and a corresponding high density of Bromus in a final soil seed bank analysis, particularly at elevated (CO2 ). This long-term experiment resulted in two primary conclusions: (i) elevated (CO2 ) does not increase productivity of annuals in most years; and (ii) relative stimulation of invasive grasses will likely depend on future precipitation, with a wetter climate favoring invasive grasses but currently predicted greater aridity favoring native dicots.

No cumulative effect of 10 years of elevated [CO2 ] on perennial plant biomass components in the Mojave Desert.

Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations ([CO2 ]) generally increase primary production of terrestrial ecosystems. Production responses to elevated [CO2 ] may be particularly large in deserts, but information on their long-term response is unknown. We evaluated the cumulative effects of elevated [CO2 ] on primary production at the Nevada Desert FACE (free-air carbon dioxide enrichment) Facility. Aboveground and belowground perennial plant biomass was harvested in an intact Mojave Desert ecosystem at the end of a 10-year elevated [CO2 ] experiment. We measured community standing biomass, biomass allocation, canopy cover, leaf area index (LAI), carbon and nitrogen content, and isotopic composition of plant tissues for five to eight dominant species. We provide the first long-term results of elevated [CO2 ] on biomass components of a desert ecosystem and offer information on understudied Mojave Desert species. In contrast to initial expectations, 10 years of elevated [CO2 ] had no significant effect on standing biomass, biomass allocation, canopy cover, and C : N ratios of above- and belowground components. However, elevated [CO2 ] increased short-term responses, including leaf water-use efficiency (WUE) as measured by carbon isotope discrimination and increased plot-level LAI. Standing biomass, biomass allocation, canopy cover, and C : N ratios of above- and belowground pools significantly differed among dominant species, but responses to elevated [CO2 ] did not vary among species, photosynthetic pathway (C3 vs. C4 ), or growth form (drought-deciduous shrub vs. evergreen shrub vs. grass). Thus, even though previous and current results occasionally show increased leaf-level photosynthetic rates, WUE, LAI, and plant growth under elevated [CO2 ] during the 10-year experiment, most responses were in wet years and did not lead to sustained increases in community biomass. We presume that the lack of sustained biomass responses to elevated [CO2 ] is explained by inter-annual differences in water availability. Therefore, the high frequency of low precipitation years may constrain cumulative biomass responses to elevated [CO2 ] in desert environments.