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Imposing antecedent global change conditions rapidly alters plant community composition in a mixed-grass prairie

Overview of attention for article published in Oecologia, July 2016
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Title
Imposing antecedent global change conditions rapidly alters plant community composition in a mixed-grass prairie
Published in
Oecologia, July 2016
DOI 10.1007/s00442-016-3684-4
Pubmed ID
Authors

Amy L. Concilio, Jesse B. Nippert, Shivani Ehrenfeucht, Karie Cherwin, Timothy R. Seastedt

Abstract

Global change drivers are altering climatic and edaphic conditions of ecosystems across the globe, and we expect novel plant communities to become more common as a result. In the Colorado Front Range, compositional changes have occurred in the mixed-grass prairie plant community in conjunction with shifts in winter precipitation and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition. To test whether these environmental changes have been responsible for the observed plant community change, we conducted an in situ manipulative experiment in a mixed-grass meadow near Boulder, CO. We simulated historical conditions by reducing N availability (+500 g C m(-2) year(-1)) and winter precipitation (with rainout shelters) for 2 years (2013-2014) and compared vegetation response to these treatments with that of ambient conditions. The site experienced an extreme precipitation event in autumn 2013 which allowed comparison of an exceptionally wet year with an average year. We measured pre-treatment species composition in 2012, and treatment responses in the spring and summer of 2013 and 2014. As predicted, simulating historical low N-winter dry conditions resulted in a plant community dominated by historically abundant species. Cool-season introduced species were significantly reduced in low N-winter dry plots, particularly the annual plants Bromus tectorum and Alyssum parviflorum. These same species responded strongly to the extreme precipitation event with large increases, while native grasses and forbs showed little change in productivity or composition under varying climatic or edaphic conditions. This work provides clear evidence linking on-going global change drivers to altered plant community composition in an otherwise relatively undisturbed grassland ecosystem.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 49 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 2 4%
Unknown 47 96%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 14 29%
Student > Ph. D. Student 10 20%
Student > Master 7 14%
Student > Doctoral Student 4 8%
Student > Bachelor 2 4%
Other 4 8%
Unknown 8 16%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 20 41%
Environmental Science 17 35%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 1 2%
Physics and Astronomy 1 2%
Unknown 10 20%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 02 August 2016.
All research outputs
#15,380,162
of 22,880,691 outputs
Outputs from Oecologia
#3,263
of 4,224 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#226,409
of 354,439 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Oecologia
#29
of 41 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,880,691 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,224 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.0. This one is in the 15th percentile – i.e., 15% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 354,439 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 27th percentile – i.e., 27% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 41 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 26th percentile – i.e., 26% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.