Justin Heavilin

Plant–soil feedbacks provide an additional explanation for diversity–productivity relationships

Plant–soil feedbacks (PSFs) have gained attention for their role in plant community dynamics, but their role in productivity has been overlooked. We developed and tested a biomass-specific, multi-species model to examine the role of PSFs in diversity–productivity relationships. The model predicts a negative relationship between PSFs and overyielding: plants with negative PSFs grow more in communities than in monoculture (i.e. overyield), and plants with positive PSFs grow less in communities than in monoculture (i.e. underyield). This effect is predicted to increase with diversity and saturate at low species richness because the proportion of ‘self-cultivated’ soils rapidly decreases as species are added to a community. Results in a set of glasshouse experiments supported model predictions. We found that PSFs measured in one experiment were negatively correlated with overyielding in three-species plant communities measured in a separate experiment. Furthermore, when parametrized with our experimental PSF data, our model successfully predicted species-level overyielding and underyielding. The model was less effective at predicting community-level overyielding and underyielding, although this appeared to reflect large differences between communities with or without nitrogen-fixing plants. Results provide conceptual and experimental support for the role of PSFs in diversity–productivity relationships.

Spectral scaling of heat fluxes in streambed sediments

Advancing our predictive capabilities of heat fluxes in streams and rivers is important because of the effects on ecology and the general use of heat fluxes as analogues for solute transport. Along ...

16 – Dynamics of Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreaks

Insect disturbance, as suggested in this chapter, is important in maintaining a diverse age structure for lodgepole pine. Left to its own devices, lodgepole would develop into crowded and unhealthy forests of over-mature trees. Although the mountain pine beetle is an aggressive tree killer, it is a native component of natural ecosystems. The forests of the American West have coevolved in ways that incorporate mountain pine beetle disturbance in the natural cycle of forest growth and regeneration. With disturbances such as mountain pine beetles, a certain homeostasis can be maintained, at least on sufficiently large spatial scales. As the model in this chapter illustrates, insect disturbances can move at a self-limiting pace, balancing the rate of forest regeneration. Like fire (with which mountain pine beetle reforestation is associated), mountain pine beetle disturbance must be viewed as a normal and healthy part of ecosystem function on a sufficiently large scale. This chapter helps establish on what scales, both in time and space, an insect disturbance such as that caused by mountain pine beetles can be expected to serve as a useful and normative disturbance.

The influence of spatially variable stream hydraulics on reach scale transient storage modeling

Within the context of reach scale transient storage modeling, there is limited understanding of how best to establish reach segment lengths that represent the effects of spatially variable hydraulic and geomorphic channel properties. In this paper, we progress this understanding through the use of channel property distributions derived from high-resolution imagery that are fundamental for hydraulic routing. We vary the resolution of reach segments used in the model representation and investigate the minimum number necessary to capture spatially variable influences on downstream predictions of solute residence time probability density functions while sufficiently representing the observed channel property distributions. We also test if the corresponding statistical moments of the predictions provide comparable results and, therefore, a method for establishing appropriate reach segment lengths. We find that the predictions and the moment estimates begin to represent the majority of the variability at reach segment lengths coinciding with distances where observed channel properties are spatially correlated. With this approach, reach scales where the channel properties no longer significantly change predictions can be established, which provides a foundation for more focused transient storage modeling efforts.

Spatial considerations of stream hydraulics in reach scale temperature modeling

While a myriad of processes control water temperature, the most significant in streams without notable shading or groundwater inputs are surface heat fluxes at the air-water interface. These fluxes are particularly sensitive to parameters representing the water surface area to volume ratio. Channel geometry dictates this ratio; however, it is currently unclear how spatial variability in stream hydraulics influences temperature predictions or how the contribution of the boundary condition influences interpretation of processes most sensitive to this variability. To investigate these influences over long reach scales, we used high-resolution spatial observations collected over a 25 km reach within a Laplace-domain solution to a two-zone temperature transient storage model. We found that for the study reach and flow condition, changes in the surface area to volume ratio did not generally coincide with changes in stream temperature. Though, notable changes in cumulative mean residence time corresponded with changes in the temperature extremes throughout the study reach. The surface heat fluxes were clearly the most sensitive to spatially variable hydraulics that translated into high residence times once the contribution of the boundary condition decayed. Consistent with solute transport, reach segment lengths that reflect the spatial correlation in observations were necessary to capture the spatial influences of hydraulics on temperature predictions. This approach provides a fundamental step for determining whether spatial detail related to stream hydraulics is important to support accurate temperature predictions and how best to represent that detail.

The sky is falling II: Impact of deposition produced during the static testing of solid rocket motors on corn and alfalfa

Tests of horizontally restrained rocket motors at the ATK facility in Promontory, Utah, USA result in the deposition of an estimated 1.5million kg of entrained soil and combustion products (mainly aluminum oxide, gaseous hydrogen chloride and water) on the surrounding area. The deposition is referred to as test fire soil (TFS). Farmers observing TFS deposited on their crops expressed concerns regarding the impact of this material. To address these concerns, we exposed corn and alfalfa to TFS collected during a September 2009 test. The impact was evaluated by comparing the growth and tissue composition of controls relative to the treatments. Exposure to TFS, containing elevated levels of chloride (1000 times) and aluminum (2 times) relative to native soils, affected the germination, growth and tissue concentrations of various elements, depending on the type and level of exposure. Germination was inhibited by high concentrations of TFS in soil, but the impact was reduced if the TFS was pre-leached with water. Biomass production was reduced in the TFS amended soils and corn grown in TFS amended soils did not develop kernels. Chloride concentrations in corn and alfalfa grown in TFS amended soils were two orders of magnitude greater than controls. TFS exposed plants contained higher concentrations of several cations, although the concentrations were well below livestock feed recommendations. Foliar applications of TFS had no impact on biomass, but some differences in the elemental composition of leaves relative to controls were observed. Washing the TFS off the leaves lessened the impact. Results indicate that the TFS deposition could have an effect, depending on the amount and growth stage of the crops, but the impact could be mitigated with rainfall or the application of additional irrigation water. The high level of chloride associated with the TFS is the main cause of the observed impacts.

Live long and prosper: plant–soil feedback, lifespan, and landscape abundance covary

Plant soil feedbacks (PSFs) are thought to be important to plant growth and species coexistence, but most support for these hypotheses is derived from short-term greenhouse experiments. Here we use a seven-year, common garden experiment to measure PSFs for seven native and six nonnative species common to the western United States. We use these long-term, field-based estimates to test correlations between PSF and plant landscape abundance, species origin, functional type, and lifespan. To assess potential PSF mechanisms, we also measured soil microbial community composition, root biomass, nitrogen cycling, bulk density, penetration resistance, and shear strength. Plant abundance on the landscape and plant lifespan were positively correlated with PSFs, though this effect was due to the relationships for native plants. PSFs were correlated with indices of soil microbial community composition. Soil nutrient and physical traits and root biomass differed among species but were not correlated with PSF. While results must be taken with caution because only 13 species were examined, these species represent most of the dominant plant species in the system. Results suggest that native plant abundance is associated with the ability of long-lived plants to create positive plant-soil microbe interactions, while short-lived nonnative plants maintain dominance by avoiding soil-borne antagonists, increasing nitrogen cycling and dedicating resources to aboveground growth and reproduction rather than to belowground growth. Broadly, results suggest that PSFs are correlated with a suite of traits that determine plant abundance.