Satellite Symposium 3: Pastoral Systems
Description
Studies of plant populations are critical for linking organism to ecosystem-level phenomena and for understanding mechanisms driving responses to global change. In perennial grasslands, the below-ground population of meristems (the bud bank) plays a fundamental role in local plant population recruitment, persistence and dynamics. We explore two aspects of the bud bank in North American grasslands. It has been hypothesized that low variability in arid biomes is explained by meristem limitation, which constrains responses to pulses of high resource availability. Our research tests this hypothesis by comparing bud-bank populations across six sites in the United States that vary 3-fold in precipitation and 4.5-fold in productivity. In addition, we are examining the effects of management practices, such as fire and grazing, on bud-bank populations using replicated long-term treatments at Konza Prairie LTER site located in north-central Kansas.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Belowground Meristem Populations as Regulators of Grassland Dynamics
Studies of plant populations are critical for linking organism to ecosystem-level phenomena and for understanding mechanisms driving responses to global change. In perennial grasslands, the below-ground population of meristems (the bud bank) plays a fundamental role in local plant population recruitment, persistence and dynamics. We explore two aspects of the bud bank in North American grasslands. It has been hypothesized that low variability in arid biomes is explained by meristem limitation, which constrains responses to pulses of high resource availability. Our research tests this hypothesis by comparing bud-bank populations across six sites in the United States that vary 3-fold in precipitation and 4.5-fold in productivity. In addition, we are examining the effects of management practices, such as fire and grazing, on bud-bank populations using replicated long-term treatments at Konza Prairie LTER site located in north-central Kansas.
