Date of Award:
5-2016
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
Ecology
Committee Chair(s)
Andrew Kulmatiski
Committee
Andrew Kulmatiski
Committee
Karen H. Beard
Committee
Scott Jones
Abstract
As the atmosphere warms, precipitation events are likely to become less frequent but more intense. While extensive efforts have been made to understand how changes in mean annual precipitation will affect plant growth, particularly in semi-arid systems, relatively little is known about how increasing precipitation intensity will affect plant growth and hydrologic cycles. A recent study by Kulmatiski and Beard (2013) found that small increases in precipitation intensity increased woody plant growth and decreased grass growth in a three-year experiment in a savanna system, Kruger National Park. Here we report results from the following two years of that experiment. Due to naturally large precipitation events, plant available water was similar between treatment and control plots in the last two years of the study allowing us to test woody plant and grass responses to treatment removal (i.e., legacy effects). Treatment effects on grass and tree growth disappeared within months of treatment removal. However, due to a legacy effect of treatments, tree mass was greater in treatment that control plots at the end of the experiment. Measurements of root recruitment and hydrological tracer uptake, but not root volume helped explain plant growth responses to treatments. Results suggest that savanna plants respond rapidly to changes in precipitation intensity, but because of legacy effects, occasional increases in precipitation intensity can result in long-term shrub encroachment.
Checksum
1a3240d44d753591cc2f4b04ef4a554f
Recommended Citation
Berry, Ryan S., "Rapid Savanna Response to Changing Precipitation Intensity" (2016). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 4971.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/4971
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