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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Critical transitions in rainfall manipulation experiments on grasslands

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Author(s):
Matos, Ilaine S. [1] ; Flores, Bernardo M. [2] ; Hirota, Marina [3, 2] ; Rosado, Bruno H. P. [4]
Total Authors: 4
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Estado Rio De Janeiro, IBRAG, Ecol & Evolut Grad Program, Rio De Janeiro - Brazil
[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, Dept Plant Biol, Campinas - Brazil
[3] Univ Fed Santa Catarina, Dept Phys, Florianopolis, SC - Brazil
[4] Univ Estado Rio De Janeiro, IBRAG, Dept Ecol, Rio De Janeiro - Brazil
Total Affiliations: 4
Document type: Review article
Source: ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION; v. 10, n. 5 FEB 2020.
Web of Science Citations: 0
Abstract

As a result of climate and land-use changes, grasslands have been subjected to intensifying drought regimes. Extreme droughts could interfere in the positive feedbacks between grasses and soil water content, pushing grasslands across critical thresholds of productivity and leading them to collapse. If this happens, systems may show hysteresis and costly management interventions might be necessary to restore predrought productivity. Thus, neglecting critical transitions may lead to mismanagement of grasslands and to irreversible loss of ecosystem services. Rainfall manipulation experiments constitute a powerful approach to investigate the risk of such critical transitions. However, experiments performed to date have rarely applied extreme droughts and have used resilience indices that disregard the existence of hysteresis. Here, we suggest how to incorporate critical transitions when designing rainfall manipulation experiments on grasslands and when measuring their resilience to drought. The ideas presented here have the potential to trigger a perspective shift among experimental researchers, into a new state where the existence of critical transitions will be discussed, experimentally tested, and largely considered when assessing and managing vegetation resilience to global changes. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 16/25086-3 - Exploring the risk of savanna expansion in Tropical South America under climate change
Grantee:Bernardo Monteiro Flores
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral