The effect of a climatic compound drought and heatwave event on the dune-building grass Elytrigia juncea

IF 3.9 2区农林科学 Q1 AGRONOMY

Plant and Soil Pub Date : 2025-03-24 DOI:10.1007/s11104-025-07370-1

Paul M. J. Berghuis, Carlijn Lammers, Max Rietkerk, Johan van de Koppel, Valérie C. Reijers, Tjisse van der Heide, Angeles G. Mayor

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background and aims

Coastal dunes provide vital ecosystem services, including flood protection and freshwater storage. These ecosystems are shaped by clonally-growing dune grasses that trap sediment as patch size increases, enabling the grasses to avoid stress from seawater flooding and freshwater scarcity. However, it remains poorly understood how increasing climate extremes will impact the establishment and survival dynamics of this vegetation. This study investigated the effects of an experimental climatic compound drought and heatwave (CDHW) on Elytrigia juncea in an embryonic dune field.

Methods

Over a four-week field experiment, we examined two plant-patch sizes (0.014 m² vs. 1.953 m²) and two climatic treatments (ambient vs. CDHW), monitoring plant response and soil moisture. We hypothesized that larger patches would better resist the CDHW due to their enhanced freshwater storage within larger dune bodies.

Results

Contrary to our expectations, E. juncea exhibited a positive response to CDHW, with longer shoots in both patch sizes. Initial soil moisture profiles remained similar across patch sizes throughout the experiment. Moreover, soil moisture profiles indicated a substantial freshwater source within reach of roots in all plots, explaining the absence of drought stress.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that pioneer dune grasses can be highly resistant to climatic CDHW when roots can reach fresh groundwater, a condition which can occur when a thin freshwater lens is present in proximity to larger dune complexes. For establishing dune grasses, it is not merely dune formation on a local scale but rather on a landscape scale that is crucial for coping with extreme climatic events.

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来源期刊

Plant and Soil 农林科学-农艺学

CiteScore

8.20

自引率

8.20%

发文量

543

审稿时长

2.5 months

期刊介绍： Plant and Soil publishes original papers and review articles exploring the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and that enhance our mechanistic understanding of plant-soil interactions. We focus on the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and seek those manuscripts with a strong mechanistic component which develop and test hypotheses aimed at understanding underlying mechanisms of plant-soil interactions. Manuscripts can include both fundamental and applied aspects of mineral nutrition, plant water relations, symbiotic and pathogenic plant-microbe interactions, root anatomy and morphology, soil biology, ecology, agrochemistry and agrophysics, as long as they are hypothesis-driven and enhance our mechanistic understanding. Articles including a major molecular or modelling component also fall within the scope of the journal. All contributions appear in the English language, with consistent spelling, using either American or British English.