Martin Kopecký, Lucia Hederová, Martin Macek, Tereza Klinerová, Jan Wild
{"title":"Forest plant indicator values for moisture reflect atmospheric vapour pressure deficit rather than soil water content.","authors":"Martin Kopecký, Lucia Hederová, Martin Macek, Tereza Klinerová, Jan Wild","doi":"10.1111/nph.20068","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soil moisture shapes ecological patterns and processes, but it is difficult to continuously measure soil moisture variability across the landscape. To overcome these limitations, soil moisture is often bioindicated using community-weighted means of the Ellenberg indicator values of vascular plant species. However, the ecology and distribution of plant species reflect soil water supply as well as atmospheric water demand. Therefore, we hypothesized that Ellenberg moisture values can also reflect atmospheric water demand expressed as a vapour pressure deficit (VPD). To test this hypothesis, we disentangled the relationships among soil water content, atmospheric vapour pressure deficit, and Ellenberg moisture values in the understory plant communities of temperate broadleaved forests in central Europe. Ellenberg moisture values reflected atmospheric VPD rather than soil water content consistently across local, landscape, and regional spatial scales, regardless of vegetation plot size, depth as well as method of soil moisture measurement. Using in situ microclimate measurements, we discovered that forest plant indicator values for moisture reflect an atmospheric VPD rather than soil water content. Many ecological patterns and processes correlated with Ellenberg moisture values and previously attributed to soil water supply are thus more likely driven by atmospheric water demand.</p>","PeriodicalId":48887,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":9.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"New Phytologist","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.20068","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/8/22 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Agricultural and Biological Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Soil moisture shapes ecological patterns and processes, but it is difficult to continuously measure soil moisture variability across the landscape. To overcome these limitations, soil moisture is often bioindicated using community-weighted means of the Ellenberg indicator values of vascular plant species. However, the ecology and distribution of plant species reflect soil water supply as well as atmospheric water demand. Therefore, we hypothesized that Ellenberg moisture values can also reflect atmospheric water demand expressed as a vapour pressure deficit (VPD). To test this hypothesis, we disentangled the relationships among soil water content, atmospheric vapour pressure deficit, and Ellenberg moisture values in the understory plant communities of temperate broadleaved forests in central Europe. Ellenberg moisture values reflected atmospheric VPD rather than soil water content consistently across local, landscape, and regional spatial scales, regardless of vegetation plot size, depth as well as method of soil moisture measurement. Using in situ microclimate measurements, we discovered that forest plant indicator values for moisture reflect an atmospheric VPD rather than soil water content. Many ecological patterns and processes correlated with Ellenberg moisture values and previously attributed to soil water supply are thus more likely driven by atmospheric water demand.
期刊介绍:
New Phytologist is a leading publication that showcases exceptional and groundbreaking research in plant science and its practical applications. With a focus on five distinct sections - Physiology & Development, Environment, Interaction, Evolution, and Transformative Plant Biotechnology - the journal covers a wide array of topics ranging from cellular processes to the impact of global environmental changes. We encourage the use of interdisciplinary approaches, and our content is structured to reflect this. Our journal acknowledges the diverse techniques employed in plant science, including molecular and cell biology, functional genomics, modeling, and system-based approaches, across various subfields.