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Leaf and root chemical and physical defence traits mediate monoculture yield decline in a grassland experiment
  • +10
  • Leonardo Bassi,
  • Justus Hennecke,
  • Cynthia Albracht,
  • Maximilian Broecher,
  • Marcel Solbach,
  • Jörg Schaller,
  • Van Cong Doan,
  • Heiko Wagner,
  • Nico Eisenhauer,
  • Anne Ebeling,
  • Sebastian Meyer,
  • Nicole van Dam,
  • Alexandra Weigelt
Leonardo Bassi
Leipzig University

Corresponding Author:leonardo.bassi@uni-leipzig.de

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Justus Hennecke
Leipzig University
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Cynthia Albracht
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ Department of Soil Ecology
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Maximilian Broecher
Friedrich Schiller University Jena Institute of Ecology
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Marcel Solbach
University of Cologne Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
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Jörg Schaller
Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) Library
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Van Cong Doan
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
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Heiko Wagner
Leipzig University
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Nico Eisenhauer
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
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Anne Ebeling
Friedrich Schiller University Jena Institute of Ecology
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Sebastian Meyer
Technical University of Munich School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan
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Nicole van Dam
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
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Alexandra Weigelt
Leipzig University
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Abstract

Plant monocultures growing for extended periods face severe losses of productivity. This phenomenon, known as ‘yield decline’, is often caused by the accumulation of above- and belowground plant antagonists. The effectiveness of plant defences against antagonists might help explaining differences in yield decline among species. Using a trait-based approach, we studied the role of 20 physical and chemical defence traits of leaves and fine roots on yield decline of 18-year old monocultures of 27 grassland species. We hypothesized that yield decline is lower for species with high defences, that root defences are better predictors of yield decline than leaf defences, and that in roots, physical defences better predict yield decline than chemical defences, while the reverse is true for leaves. We additionally hypothesized that species increasing the expression of defence traits after long-term monoculture growth would suffer less yield decline. We summarized leaf and fine root defence traits using principal component analysis and analysed the relationship between defence traits mean as a measure of defence strenght and defence traits temporal changes of the most informative components and monoculture yield decline. The only significant predictors of yield decline were the mean and temporal changes of the component related to specific root length and root diameter (e.g. the so called collaboration gradient of the root economics space). The principal component analysis of the remaining traits showed strong trade-offs between defences suggesting that different plant species deploy a variety of strategies to defend themselves. This diversity of strategies could preclude the detection of a generalized correlation between the strength and temporal changes of defence gradients and yield decline. Our results show that yield decline is strongly linked to belowground processes particularly to root traits. Further studies are needed to understand the mechanism driving the effect of the collaboration gradient on yield decline.
22 Feb 2023Submitted to Oikos
27 Feb 2023Submission Checks Completed
27 Feb 2023Assigned to Editor
27 Feb 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
12 Mar 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
27 May 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Major
23 Jul 20231st Revision Received
25 Jul 2023Submission Checks Completed
25 Jul 2023Assigned to Editor
25 Jul 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
14 Aug 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
30 Aug 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
22 Sep 20232nd Revision Received
22 Sep 2023Submission Checks Completed
22 Sep 2023Assigned to Editor
22 Sep 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
01 Oct 2023Editorial Decision: Accept