New Ecology Research Findings from University of Oklahoma Outlined (Abiotic Factors and Plant Biomass, Not Plant Diversity, Strongly Shape Grassland Arthropods Under Drought Conditions)

2020 MAY 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Ecology Daily News -- New research on Ecology Research is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Norman, Oklahoma, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Arthropod abundance and diversity often track plant biomass and diversity at the local scale. However, under altered precipitation regimes and anthropogenic disturbances, plant-arthropod relationships are expected to be increasingly controlled by abiotic, rather than biotic, factors.”

Funders for this research include OU GSS, NSF, OU Faculty Investment Program (FIP), NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Award.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Oklahoma, “We used an experimental precipitation gradient combined with human management in a temperate mixed-grass prairie to examine (1) how two drivers, altered precipitation and biomass removal, can synergistically affect abiotic factors and plant communities and (2) how these effects can cascade upward, impacting the arthropod food web. Both drought and hay harvest increased soil surface temperature, and drought decreased soil moisture. Arthropod abundance decreased with low soil moisture and, contrary to our predictions, decreased with increased plant biomass. Arthropod diversity increased with soil moisture, decreased with high surface temperatures, and tracked arthropod abundance but was unaffected by plant diversity or quality. Our experiment demonstrates that arthropod abundance is directly constrained by abiotic factors and plant biomass, in turn constraining local arthropod diversity.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “If robust, this result suggests climate change in the southern Great Plains may directly reduce arthropod diversity.”

For more information on this research see: Abiotic Factors and Plant Biomass, Not Plant Diversity, Strongly Shape Grassland Arthropods Under Drought Conditions. Ecology, 2020;():. Ecology can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting R.M. Prather, University of Oklahoma, Dept. of Biology, Norman, OK 73019, United States. Additional authors for this research include E.A.R. Welti, M. Kaspari, K. Castillioni and L. Souza.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3033. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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