HR: 1340h
AN: B33B-1208    [Abstracts]
TI: Do Species-specific Hydraulic Traits Predict Ecosystem Response and Community Structure? Evidence From Co-occurring Bryophytes of a Sloping Wetland
AU: * Lintz, H E
EM: lintzh@onid.orst.edu
AF: Oregon State University, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology 2082 Cordley Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States
AU: Russell, M C
EM: russelmi@hort.oregonstate.edu
AF: Oregon State University, Department of Horticulture 4017 Ag and Life Sciences Building, Corvallis, OR 97333, United States
AU: Hardman, A C
EM: hardmana@onid.orst.edu
AF: Oregon State University, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology 2082 Cordley Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States
AB: Ecosystems comprise a complex assortment species, and each species has a unique set of physiological and anatomical characteristics or traits. Landscape-level forecasts of ecosystem response to climate change can benefit by accounting for species-specific traits. Here, we demonstrate how a hydraulic trait can be quantified and aggregrated to community and ecosystem levels using a model life form and system, bryophytes in a sloping wetland. Growth and reproduction of bryophytes depend on the quantity of external water held, which varies by species. Wetlands provide a soil substrate that supplies either an unlimited amount of water, or at minimum, a shallow water table for part of the year. We hypothesized and confirmed that external water holding capacity of bryophyte species (measured in the laboratory) corresponded to bryophyte community structure along a hydrology gradient in the wetland. In addition, we demonstrated that water holding capacity by species can be aggregated to the level of the wetland ecosystem to reveal an emergent community property, water holding capacity of the bryophyte mat. Our results support ecological theory presented by Paul Keddy (1999) that co-occurring organisms show similarity in resource acquisition along gradients of resource limitation. We promote a conceptual framework that incorporates species-specific traits as modeling currency that can bridge scales.
DE: 1851 Plant ecology (0476)
DE: 1890 Wetlands (0497)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting