Grassland plant species with slow-growing strategy are more resistant to extreme drought

doi:10.1093/jpe/rtaf192

J Plant Ecol ›› Advance articles DOI:10.1093/jpe/rtaf192

• Short Communication •

Grassland plant species with slow-growing strategy are more resistant to extreme drought

Xiao-Hua Yang^1,2, Xiao-Sa Liang¹, Yuan Shi^1,2, Yuan-Xiu Wu^1,2, Xiao-Ru Zhang^1,2, Cong Ding^1,2, Xiao-Jing Zhang^1,2, Alemayehu Adugna³, Xiao-Tao Lü^1,*

1 Erguna Forest-Steppe Ecotone Research Station, CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China

2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

3 Department of Plant Sciences, Guder Mamo Mezemir Campus, Ambo University, Ambo 19, Ethiopia

*Author for correspondence:

Prof. & Dr. Xiao-Tao Lü

Fax: +86-24-83970300

Tel: +86-24-83970752

E-mail: lvxiaotao@iae.ac.cn

Received:2025-08-21 Accepted:2025-11-09 Online:2025-11-14 Published:2025-11-14
Supported by:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32501482).

Abstract

Abstract: The frequency and intensity of extreme droughts are increasing and are predicted to be more severe in the coming decades. Clarifying the reasons for species-specific resistance to extreme drought is vital for predicting changes in community structure and ecosystem functioning. While the ‘slow-fast’ economics spectrum is widely used to explain inter-specific variations in ecological strategies, community assembly, and ecosystem functioning, its role in driving plant resistance to extreme drought is under debate. We examined the relationship between the resistance of plants to extreme drought (60% reduction in growing season precipitation) and the ‘slow-fast’ economics spectrum across 13 species in a temperate steppe. We found significant interspecific variations in the resistance of plants to extreme drought, with the dominant grass, Leymus chinensis, showing the strongest resistance. Extreme drought resistance was negatively associated with the slow-fast continuum, with higher resistance of slow-growing species than the fast-growing ones. Chemical traits were more important than morphological traits in predicting plant resistance to extreme drought. Our results provide direct evidence for the strong association between the plant economics spectrum and species-level resistance to extreme drought and call for more attention to species with fast strategy due to their higher vulnerability to extreme drought.

Key words: ecosystem stability, plant functional traits, resistance, semiarid grassland leaf economic spectrum

摘要：
极端干旱的发生频率和强度日益加剧。解析植物对极端干旱抵抗力的物种特异性，对于预测极端干旱背景下植物群落结构与功能的变化至关重要。基于植物功能性状的“快-慢经济谱”已被广泛用于解释物种间生态策略的差异，但是物种的快-慢生长策略与其对干旱抵抗力的关系仍无定论。本研究基于控制实验，分析了呼伦贝尔草甸草原13种常见植物对极端干旱的抵抗力与其生长策略的关系。结果显示，植物对极端干旱的抵抗力存在显著的种间差异，优势物种羊草(Leymus chinensis)的抵抗力最强。极端干旱抵抗力和“快慢生长谱”呈负相关，即采取慢生长策略的物种对极端干旱具有更强的抵抗力。在预测上述物种对极端干旱的抵抗力方面，化学性状比形态学性状更为重要。本研究为明确物种水平上植物经济谱和极端干旱抵抗力的耦联关系提供了直接证据。在极端干旱频发的背景下，采取快生长策略的物种因其较高的敏感性而更需要重视。

关键词: 生态系统稳定性, 植物功能性状, 抵抗力, 温带草原, 叶经济谱

CLC Number:

Xiao-Hua Yang, Xiao-Sa Liang, Yuan Shi, Yuan-Xiu Wu, Xiao-Ru Zhang, Cong Ding, Xiao-Jing Zhang, Alemayehu Adugna, Xiao-Tao Lü. Grassland plant species with slow-growing strategy are more resistant to extreme drought[J]. J Plant Ecol, DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtaf192.

[1]	Huiyuan Cheng, Kaling Huang, Mengdi Luan, Zifan Zhang, Xuebin Yan, Hui Guo. Latitudinal pattern of plant invasion driven by species diversity over phylogenetic distance [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2025, 18(6): 1-30.
[2]	Chen Liang, Lin-Shui Dong, Ai-Yun Song, Lei Wang, Jing-Tao Liu. Soil carbon storage and its driving factors in different plant communities of coastal wetland in the non-growing season [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2025, 18(5): 1-15.
[3]	Fandong Meng, Jianping Sun, Wangwang Lü, Zhenhua Zhang, Bowen Li, Yang Zhou, Jingya Lü, Lanying Chen, Tsechoe Dorji, Shiping Wang. Trade-off between growing season length and herbaceous growth on the Third Pole [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2025, 18(4): 1-11.
[4]	Lara A. Quaglini, Florencia A. Yannelli, Federica Fasano, Chiara Montagnani, Sarah Caronni, Sandra Citterio, Rodolfo Gentili. Abiotic and biotic factors shape the invasion success of the alien plant species Senecio inaequidens (Asteraceae) in northern Italy [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2025, 18(3): 1-15.
[5]	Yuhan Liu, Yifei Zhao, Qiaosheng Li, Zijun Tan, Zugeng Zhang, Yuxuan Liu, Jianming Wang, Congcong Liu, Chunwang Xiao. Variation in leaf construction cost and environmental drivers in China [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2025, 18(2): 1-14.
[6]	Junxiang Ding, Mingli Zhang, Xiaowen Zeng, Ming Dou, Wenjing Ge, Yingshu Cao, Qingbin Mi, Jihua Wang, Fengmin Lu, Liang Zhao, Deliang Kong, Huajun Yin, Lin Wang, Guangsheng Zhou. Soil nutrients drive the spatial variability of wetland productivity along degradation gradients through plant functional traits [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2025, 18(2): 1-15.
[7]	Binyang Liu, Xinru Zhang, Gaoming Jiang. Comparison on stress memory of two Hypnaceae moss species to haze [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2024, 17(6): 0-rtae066.
[8]	Sining Liu, Jiashu Chen, Yan Luo, Junpeng Ren, Yahan Chen, Zhengbing Yan, Wenxuan Han. Coordination between leaf pH and other leaf traits are divergent among life-forms and eco-geographic regions in plants of northern China [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2024, 17(6): 1-15.
[9]	Shiwen Ding, Fons van der Plas, Jie Li, Bai Liu, Man Xu, Tongtong Xu, Xiaobin Pan, Qing Chang, Ying Chen, Yinong Li. Grazing effects on the relationship between plant functional diversity and soil carbon sequestration regulated by livestock species [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2024, 17(5): 1-12.
[10]	Qiong Ran, Songlin Zhang, Muhammad Arif, Xueting Yin, Shanshan Chen, Guangqian Ren. Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on carbon assimilation and ecological stoichiometry of maize under combined abiotic stresses [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2024, 17(2): 0-rtae010.
[11]	Yuan-Yuan Zhao, Zhuo-Ting Li, Ting Xu and An-ru Lou. Leaf litter decomposition characteristics and controlling factors across two contrasting forest types [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(6): 1285-1301.
[12]	Sining Liu, Jiashu Chen and Wenxuan Han. Comparison of pretreatment, preservation and determination methods for foliar pH of plant samples [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(4): 673-682.
[13]	Kai Sun, Xuan-Shao Liu, Tian-Jian Qin, Fan Jiang, Jing-Fang Cai, Yi-Luan Shen, Si-Ha A and Hong-Li Li. Relative abundance of invasive plants more effectively explains the response of wetland communities to different invasion degrees than phylogenetic evenness [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(3): 625-638.
[14]	Daphna Uni, Elli Groner, Elaine Soloway, Amgad Hjazin, Spencer Johnswick, Gidon Winters, Efrat Sheffer, Ido Rog, Yael Wagner and Tamir Klein. Unexpectedly low δ ¹³C in leaves, branches, stems and roots of three acacia species growing in hyper-arid environments [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(1): 117-131.
[15]	Nannan Wang, Lei Li, Bingwei Zhang, Shiping Chen, Wei Sun, Yukun Luo, Kuanhu Dong, Xingguo Han, Jianhui Huang, Xiaofeng Xu and Changhui Wang. Population turnover promotes fungal stability in a semi-arid grassland under precipitation shifts [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2020, 13(4): 499-509.

Grassland plant species with slow-growing strategy are more resistant to extreme drought

HTML

PDF

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References

Related Articles 15

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments