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Ecological disturbances driving state changes in ecosystems are likely to be exacerbated with climate shifts during this century. Temperate montane ecosystems of the Western United States (Mountain West) are especially vulnerable due to their low fertility, heterogeneous landscapes, and tight coupling between terrestrial and aquatic components. We review how catchment level pulse and press disturbances will intensify, and how they are reflected by coupled measurements of stream water chemistry and flow. Detecting effects on watershed processes can be complex and depend on the type and extent of disturbance. Within this context, we discuss the impacts of wildfire (pulse), bark beetle outbreaks (pulse), snowpack shifts (press), and progressive vegetation community shifts (press) on streamflow and chemistry dynamics (hydrochemographs). We used long-term data from three mid- to high-elevation watersheds as examples of how disturbances may influence stream hydrochemographs, including increased variability in winter nitrate export in more recent years with extremes in snowmelt runoff export; variable nitrate export when snow water equivalent was abnormally high or low; and high nitrate flux in the years immediately following sudden forest loss. These examples illustrate the need for long-term continuous monitoring to fill the gap in our understanding of the short- and long-term consequences of climate change-induced disturbances to watersheds. As disturbances increase in severity and frequency and induce ecological state changes, it is critical that we develop our understanding of impacts on downstream communities that depend sociologically and economically on water availability and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photosynthetic responses across complex elevational gradients provides insight into fundamental processes driving responses of plant growth and net primary production to environmental change. Gas exchange of needles and twig water potential were measured in two widespread coniferous tree species, Pinus contorta and Picea engelmannii, over an 800-m elevation gradient in southeastern Wyoming, USA. We hypothesized that limitations to photosynthesis imposed by mesophyll conductance (gm) would be greatest at the highest elevation sites due to higher leaf mass per area (LMA) and that estimations of maximum rate of carboxylation (Vcmax) without including gm would obscure elevational patterns of photosynthetic capacity. We found that gm decreased with elevation for P. contorta and remained constant for P. engelmannii, but in general, limitation to photosynthesis by gm was small. Indeed, estimations of Vcmax when including gm were equivalent to those estimated without including gm and no correlation was found between gm and LMA nor between gm and leaf N. Stomatal conductance (gs) and biochemical demand for CO2 were by far the most limiting processes to photosynthesis at all sites along the elevation gradient. Photosynthetic capacity (A) and gs were influenced strongly by differences in soil water availability across the elevation transect, while gm was less responsive to water availability. Based on our analysis, variation in gm plays only a minor role in driving patterns of photosynthesis in P. contorta and P. engelmannii across complex elevational gradients in dry, continental environments of the Rocky Mountains and accurate modeling of photosynthesis, growth and net primary production in these forests may not require detailed estimation of this trait value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug overdoses are a national and global epidemic. However, while overdoses are inextricably linked to social, demographic, and geographical determinants, geospatial patterns of drug-related admissions and overdoses at the neighborhood level remain poorly studied. The objective of this paper is to investigate spatial distributions of patients admitted for drug-related admissions and overdoses from a large, urban, tertiary care center using electronic health record data. Additionally, these spatial distributions were adjusted for a validated socioeconomic index called the Area Deprivation Index (ADI). We showed spatial heterogeneity in patients admitted for opioid, amphetamine, and psychostimulant-related diagnoses and overdoses. While ADI was associated with drug-related admissions, it did not correct for spatial variations and could not account alone for this spatial heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Our goal was to better understand tree growth and photosynthetic responses to variations in plant available water and elucidate the role of the inverse texture effect in snow dominated montane forests. Methods: We measured tree ring carbon isotope composition and annual growth over a 31-year record for lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon) growing on three different-aged glacial till surfaces in Wyoming, USA. Results: Soils of different ages developed on till surfaces from three separate glaciation events were significantly different in clay content and distribution with depth; maximum clay content at depth ranged from 19 to 20% on the two youngest till surfaces, but was as high as 36% on the oldest till surface. Ring growth was lowest at the youngest till sites, and only on these coarse-textured soils was growth positively correlated with annual maximum snow water equivalent (SWEmax). Δ13C was highest for trees at these young till sites, suggesting that hydraulic conductivity and stomatal conductance is comparatively high during growth periods on these coarse-textured soils. Conclusion: Taken together, we found that age of glacial till and related soil texture differences strongly influenced tree-ring growth and Δ13C response of lodgepole pine to interannual variation in precipitation and drought severity, but responses did not support an inverse texture effect in these semi-arid forest systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global changes that alter soil water availability may have profound effects on semiarid ecosystems. Although both elevated CO2 (eCO2) and warming can alter water availability, often in opposite ways, few studies have measured their combined influence on the amount, timing, and temporal variability of soil water. Here, we ask how free air CO2 enrichment (to 600 ppmv) and infrared warming (+ 1.5 °C day, + 3 °C night) effects on soil water vary within years and across wet-dry periods in North American mixed-grass prairie. We found that eCO2 and warming interacted to influence soil water and that those interactions varied by season. In the spring, negative effects of warming on soil water largely offset positive effects of eCO2. As the growing season progressed, however, warming reduced soil water primarily (summer) or only (autumn) in plots treated with eCO2. These interactions constrained the combined effect of eCO2 and warming on soil water, which ranged from neutral in spring to positive in autumn. Within seasons, eCO2 increased soil water under drier conditions, and warming decreased soil water under wetter conditions. By increasing soil water under dry conditions, eCO2 also reduced temporal variability in soil water. These temporal patterns explain previously observed plant responses, including reduced leaf area with warming in summer, and delayed senescence with eCO2 plus warming in autumn. They also suggest that eCO2 and warming may favor plant species that grow in autumn, including winter annuals and C3 graminoids, and species able to remain active under the dry conditions moderated by eCO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming is predicted to induce desiccation in many world regions through increases in evaporative demand. Rising CO2 may counter that trend by improving plant water-use efficiency. However, it is not clear how important this CO2-enhanced water use efficiency might be in offsetting warming-induced desiccation because higher CO2 also leads to higher plant biomass, and therefore greater transpirational surface. Furthermore, although warming is predicted to favour warm-season, C4 grasses, rising CO2 should favour C3, or cool-season plants. Here we show in a semi-arid grassland that elevated CO2 can completely reverse the desiccating effects of moderate warming. Although enrichment of air to 600?p.p.m.v. CO2 increased soil water content (SWC), 1.5/3.0?°C day/night warming resulted in desiccation, such that combined CO2 enrichment and warming had no effect on SWC relative to control plots. As predicted, elevated CO2 favoured C3 grasses and enhanced stand productivity, whereas warming favoured C4 grasses. Combined warming and CO2 enrichment stimulated above-ground growth of C4 grasses in 2 of 3?years when soil moisture most limited plant productivity. The results indicate that in a warmer, CO2-enriched world, both SWC and productivity in semi-arid grasslands may be higher than previously expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The C isotope composition of leaf dark-respired CO (δC) integrates short-term metabolic responses to environmental change and is potentially recorded in the isotopic signature of ecosystem-level respiration. Species differences in photosynthetic pathway, resource acquisition and allocation patterns, and associated isotopic fractionations at metabolic branch points can influence δC, and differences are likely to be modified by seasonal variation in drought intensity. We measured δC in two deep-rooted C trees ( Prosopis velutina and Celtis reticulata), and two relatively shallow-rooted perennial herbs (a C dicot Viguiera dentata and a C grass Sporobolus wrightii) in a floodplain savanna ecosystem in southeastern Arizona, USA during the dry pre-monsoon and wet monsoon seasons. δC decreased during the nighttime and reached minimum values at pre-dawn in all species. The magnitude of nocturnal shift in δC differed among species and between pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons. During the pre-monsoon season, the magnitude of the nocturnal shift in δC in the deep-rooted C trees P. velutina (2.8 ± 0.4‰) and C. reticulata (2.9 ± 0.2‰) was greater than in the C herb V. dentata (1.8 ± 0.4‰) and C grass S. wrightii (2.2 ± 0.4‰). The nocturnal shift in δC in V. dentata and S. wrightii increased to 3.2 ± 0.1‰ and 4.6 ± 0.6‰, respectively, during the monsoon season, but in C trees did not change significantly from pre-monsoon values. Cumulative daytime net CO uptake was positively correlated with the magnitude of the nocturnal decline in δC across all species, suggesting that nocturnal δC may be controlled by C/C fractionations associated with C substrate availability and C metabolite partitioning. Nocturnal patterns of δC in dominant plant species in the semiarid savanna apparently have predictable responses to seasonal changes in water availability, which is important for interpreting and modeling the C isotope signature of ecosystem-respired CO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting net C balance under future global change scenarios requires a comprehensive understanding of how ecosystem photosynthesis (gross primary production; GPP) and respiration (Re) respond to elevated atmospheric [CO2] and altered water availability. We measured net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE), GPP and Re under ambient and elevated [CO2] in a northern mixed-grass prairie (Wyoming, USA) during dry intervals and in response to simulated precipitation pulse events. Elevated [CO2] resulted in higher rates of both GPP and Re across the 2006 growing season, and the balance of these two fluxes (NEE) accounted for cumulative growing season C uptake (−14.4 ± 8.3 g C m−2). Despite lower GPP and Re, experimental plots under ambient [CO2] had greater cumulative uptake (−36.2 ± 8.2 g C m−2) than plots under elevated [CO2]. Non-irrigated control plots received 50% of average precipitation during the drought of 2006, and had near-zero NEE (1.9 ± 6.4 g C m−2) for the growing season. Elevated [CO2] extended the magnitude and duration of pulse-related increases in GPP, resulting in a significant [CO2] treatment by pulse day interaction, demonstrating the potential for elevated [CO2] to increase the capacity of this ecosystem to respond to late-season precipitation. However, stimulation of Re throughout the growing season under elevated [CO2] reduced net C uptake compared to plots under ambient [CO2]. These results indicate that although elevated [CO2] stimulates gross rates of ecosystem C fluxes, it does not necessarily enhance net C uptake, and that C cycle responses in semi-arid grasslands are likely to be more sensitive to changes in precipitation than atmospheric [CO2]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth chambers allow measurement of phenotypic differences among genotypes under controlled environment conditions. However, unintended variation in growth chamber air CO2 concentration ([CO2]) may affect the expression of diverse phenotypic traits, and genotypes may differ in their response to variation in [CO2]. We monitored [CO2] and quantified phenotypic responses of 22 Brassica rapa genotypes in growth chambers with either standard or enhanced venting. [CO2] in chambers with standard venting dropped to 280 μmol mol−1 during the period of maximum canopy development, ~80 μmol mol−1 lower than in chambers with enhanced venting. The stable carbon isotope ratio of CO2 in chamber air (δ13Cair) was negatively correlated with [CO2], suggesting that photosynthesis caused observed [CO2] decreases. Significant genotype × chamber-venting interactions were detected for 12 of 20 traits, likely due to differences in the extent to which [CO2] changed in relation to genotypes’ phenology or differential sensitivity of genotypes to low [CO2]. One trait, 13C discrimination (δ13C), was particularly influenced by unaccounted-for fluctuations in δ13Cair and [CO2]. Observed responses to [CO2] suggest that genetic variance components estimated in poorly vented growth chambers may be influenced by the expression of genes involved in CO2 stress responses; genotypic values estimated in these chambers may likewise be misleading such that some mapped quantitative trait loci may regulate responses to CO2 stress rather than a response to the environmental factor of interest. These results underscore the importance of monitoring, and where possible, controlling [CO2]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change predictions for the desert southwestern U.S. are for shifts in precipitation patterns. The impacts of climate change may be significant, because desert soil processes are strongly controlled by precipitation inputs (“pulses”) via their effect on soil water availability. This study examined the response of soil respiration—an important biological process that affects soil carbon (C) storage—to variation in pulses representative of climate change scenarios for the Sonoran Desert. Because deserts are mosaics of different plant cover types and soil textures—which create patchiness in soil respiration—we examined how these landscape characteristics interact to affect the response of soil respiration to pulses. Pulses were applied to experimental plots of bare and vegetated soil on contrasting soil textures typical of Sonoran Desert grasslands. The data were analyzed within a Bayesian framework to: (1) determine pulse size and antecedent moisture (soil moisture prior to the pulse) effects on soil respiration, (2) quantify soil texture (coarse vs. fine) and cover type (bare vs. vegetated) effects on the response of soil respiration and its components (plant vs. microbial) to pulses, and (3) explore the relationship between long-term variation in pulse regimes and seasonal soil respiration. Regarding objective (1), larger pulses resulted in higher respiration rates, particularly from vegetated fine-textured soil, and dry antecedent conditions amplified respiration responses to pulses (wet antecedent conditions dampened the pulse response). Regarding (2), autotrophic (plant) activity was a significant source (∼60%) of respiration and was more sensitive to pulses on coarse- versus fine-textured soils. The sensitivity of heterotrophic (microbial) respiration to pulses was highly dependent on antecedent soil water. Regarding (3), seasonal soil respiration was predicted to increase with both growing season precipitation and mean pulse size (but only for pulses between 7 and 25 mm). Thus, the heterogeneity of the desert landscape and the timing or the number of medium-sized pulses is expected to significantly impact desert soil C loss with climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stable isotope composition of spines produced serially from the apex of columnar cacti has the potential to be used as a record of changes in climate and physiology. To investigate this potential, we measured the δ18O, δ13C and F14C values of spines from a long-lived columnar cactus, saguaro ( Carnegiea gigantea). To determine plant age, we collected spines at 11 different heights along one rib from the stem apex (3.77 m height) to the base of a naturally occurring saguaro. Fractions of modern carbon (F14C) ranged from 0.9679 to 1.5537, which is consistent with ages between 1950 and 2004. We observed a very strong positive correlation ( r = 0.997) between the F14C age of spines and the age of spines determined from direct and repeated height measurements taken on this individual over the past 37 years. A series of 96 spines collected from this individual had δ18O values ranging from 38‰ to 50‰ [Vienna standard mean ocean water (VSMOW)] and δ13C values from −11.5‰ to −8.5‰ [Vienna Peedee belemnite (VPDB)]. The δ18O and δ13C values of spines were positively correlated ( r = 0.45, P < 0.0001) and showed near-annual oscillations over the ∼15-year record. This pattern suggests that seasonal periods of reduced evaporative demand or greater precipitation input may correspond to increased daytime CO2 uptake. The lowest δ18O and δ13C values of spines observed occurred during the 1983 and 1993 El Niño years, suggesting that the stable isotope composition recorded in spine tissue may serve as a proxy for these climate events. We compared empirical models and data from potted experimental cacti to validate these observations and test our hypotheses. The isotopic records presented here are the first ever reported from a chronosequence of cactus spines and demonstrate that tissues of columnar cacti, and potentially other long-lived succulents, may contain a record of past physiological and climatic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arid and semi-arid ecosystems of the southwestern US are undergoing changes in vegetation composition and are predicted to experience shifts in climate. To understand implications of these current and predicted changes, we conducted a precipitation manipulation experiment on the Santa Rita Experimental Range in southeastern Arizona. The objectives of our study were to determine how soil surface and seasonal timing of rainfall events mediate the dynamics of leaf-level photosynthesis and plant water status of a native and non-native grass species in response to precipitation pulse events. We followed a simulated precipitation event (pulse) that occurred prior to the onset of the North American monsoon (in June) and at the peak of the monsoon (in August) for 2002 and 2003. We measured responses of pre-dawn water potential, photosynthetic rate, and stomatal conductance of native ( Heteropogon contortus) and non-native ( Eragrostis lehmanniana) C4 bunchgrasses on sandy and clay-rich soil surfaces. Soil surface did not always amplify differences in plant response to a pulse event. A June pulse event lead to an increase in plant water status and photosynthesis. Whereas the August pulse did not lead to an increase in plant water status and photosynthesis, due to favorable soil moisture conditions facilitating high plant performance during this period. E. lehmanniana did not demonstrate heightened photosynthetic performance over the native species in response to pulses across both soil surfaces. Overall accumulated leaf-level CO2 response to a pulse event was dependent on antecedent soil moisture during the August pulse event, but not during the June pulse event. This work highlights the need to understand how desert species respond to pulse events across contrasting soil surfaces in water-limited systems that are predicted to experience changes in climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable isotope measurements are employed extensively in plant–water relations research to investigate physiological and hydrological processes from whole plant to ecosystem scales. Stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen are routinely measured to identify plant source water. This application relies on the assumption that no fractionation of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in water occurs during uptake by roots. However, a large fraction of the water taken up through roots in halophytic and xerophytic plants transverses cell membranes in the endodermis before entering the root xylem. Passage of water through this symplastic pathway has been hypothesized to cause fractionation leading to a decrease in 2H of root xylem water relative to that in the surrounding soil medium. We examined 16 woody halophytic and xerophytic plant species in controlled conditions for evidence of hydrogen isotope fractionation during uptake at the root–soil interface. Isotopic separation (Δ2H = δ2Hsoil water − δ2Hxylem water) ranging from 3‰ to 9‰ was observed in 12 species. A significant positive correlation between salinity tolerance and the magnitude of Δ2H was observed. Water in whole stem segments, sapwood, and roots had significantly lower δ2H values relative to soil water in Prosopis velutina Woot., the species expressing the greatest Δ2H values among the 16 species examined. Pressurized water flow through intact root systems of Artemisia tridentata Nutt. and Atriplex canescens (Pursh) Nutt. caused the δ2H values to decrease as flow rate increased. This relationship was not observed in P. velutina. Destroying the plasma membranes of root cells by excessive heat from boiling did not significantly alter the relationship between δ2H of expressed water and flow rate. In light of these results, care should be taken when using the stable isotope method to examine source-water use in halophytic and xerophytic species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopic composition of bulk leaf water (δDlw and δ18Olw) in piñon pine ( Pinus edulis and P. monophylla) and gas exchange parameters were measured under field conditions to examine the effects of seasonal moisture stress on leaf water isotopic enrichment. Study sites were located near the lower elevation limit for piñon in the southwestern USA. Leaf-level transpiration measurements were made four times daily in spring, summer and early autumn; simultaneously, leaf samples were collected for water extraction and stable isotope analysis. Diurnal variations in δDlw and δ18Olw values were small, especially when leaf water residence times (molar leaf water content divided by transpiration rate) were high. Stomatal conductance explained most of the variance (60%) in leaf water enrichment across the dataset. Observed leaf water enrichment was compared with predictions of steady-state and nonsteady-state models. Nonsteady-state predictions fit observations the best, although D enrichment was often lower than predicted by any model. Hydrogen isotope ratios of leaf water and cellulose nitrate were strongly correlated, demonstrating preservation of a leaf water signal in wood and leaf cellulose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant metabolic activity in arid and semi-arid environments is largely tied to episodic precipitation events or “pulses”. The ability of plants to take up and utilize rain pulses during the growing season in these water-limited ecosystems is determined in part by pulse timing, intensity and amount, and by hydrological properties of the soil that translate precipitation into plant-available soil moisture. We assessed the sensitivity of an invasive woody plant, velvet mesquite ( Prosopis velutina Woot.), to large (35 mm) and small (10 mm) isotopically labeled irrigation pulses on two contrasting soil textures (sandy-loam vs. loamy-clay) in semi-desert grassland in southeastern Arizona, USA. Predawn leaf water potential (Ψpd), the isotopic abundance of deuterium in stem water (δ D), the abundance of 13C in soluble leaf sugar (δ13C), and percent volumetric soil water content (θv) were measured prior to irrigation and repeatedly for 2 weeks following irrigation. Plant water potential and the percent of pulse water present in the stem xylem indicated that although mesquite trees on both coarse- and fine-textured soils quickly responded to the large irrigation pulse, the magnitude and duration of this response substantially differed between soil textures. After reaching a maximum 4 days after the irrigation, the fraction of pulse water in stem xylem decreased more rapidly on the loamy-clay soil than the sandy-loam soil. Similarly, on both soil textures mesquite significantly responded to the 10-mm pulse. However, the magnitude of this response was substantially greater for mesquite on the sandy-loam soil compared to loamy-clay soil. The relationship between Ψpd and δ13C of leaf-soluble carbohydrates over the pulse period did not differ between plants at the two sites, indicating that differences in photosynthetic response of mesquite trees to the moisture pulses was a function of soil water availability within the rooting zone rather than differences in plant biochemical or physiological constraints. Patterns of resource acquisition by mesquite during the dynamic wetting–drying cycle following rainfall pulses is controlled by a complex interaction between pulse size and soil hydraulic properties. A better understanding of how this interaction affects plant water availability and photosynthetic response is needed to predict how grassland structure and function will respond to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physiological activity and structural dynamics in arid and semi-arid ecosystems are driven by discrete inputs or “pulses” of growing season precipitation. Here we describe the short-term dynamics of ecosystem physiology in experimental stands of native (Heteropogon contortus) and invasive (Eragrostis lehmanniana) grasses to an irrigation pulse across two geomorphic surfaces with distinctly different soils: a Pleistocene-aged surface with high clay content in a strongly horizonated soil, and a Holocene-aged surface with low clay content in homogenously structured soils. We evaluated whole-ecosystem and leaf-level CO2 and H2O exchange, soil CO2 efflux, along with plant and soil water status to understand potential constraints on whole-ecosystem carbon exchange during the initiation of the summer monsoon season. Prior to the irrigation pulse, both invasive and native grasses had less negative pre-dawn water potentials (?pd), greater leaf photosynthetic rates (Anet) and stomatal conductance (gs), and greater rates of net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) on the Pleistocene surface than on the Holocene. Twenty-four hours following the experimental application of a 39 mm irrigation pulse, soil CO2 efflux increased leading to all plots losing CO2 to the atmosphere over the course of a day. Invasive species stands had greater evapotranspiration rates (ET) immediately following the precipitation pulse than did native stands, while maximum instantaneous NEE increased for both species and surfaces at roughly the same rate. The differential ET patterns through time were correlated with an earlier decline in NEE in the invasive species as compared to the native species plots. Plots with invasive species accumulated between 5% and 33% of the carbon that plots with the native species accumulated over the 15-day pulse period. Taken together, these results indicate that system CO2 efflux (both the physical displacement of soil CO2 by water along with plant and microbial respiration) strongly controls whole-ecosystem carbon exchange during precipitation pulses. Since CO2 and H2O loss to the atmosphere was partially driven by species effects on soil microclimate, understanding the mechanistic relationships between the soil characteristics, plant ecophysiological responses, and canopy structural dynamics will be important for understanding the effects of shifting precipitation and vegetation patterns in semi-arid environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water availability limits plant growth and production in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. However, biomes differ substantially in sensitivity of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) to between-year variation in precipitation. Average rain-use efficiency (RUE; ANPP/precipitation) also varies between biomes, supposedly because of differences in vegetation structure and/or biogeochemical constraints. Here we show that RUE decreases across biomes as mean annual precipitation increases. However, during the driest years at each site, there is convergence to a common maximum RUE (RUEmax) that is typical of arid ecosystems. RUEmax was also identified by experimentally altering the degree of limitation by water and other resources. Thus, in years when water is most limiting, deserts, grasslands and forests all exhibit the same rate of biomass production per unit rainfall, despite differences in physiognomy and site-level RUE. Global climate models predict increased between-year variability in precipitation, more frequent extreme drought events, and changes in temperature. Forecasts of future ecosystem behaviour should take into account this convergent feature of terrestrial biomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]