Grassland ecology articles within Nature Geoscience

Featured

• Article | 27 July 2023

  Soil carbon in tropical savannas mostly derived from grasses

  Grasses contribute more than half of the soil organic carbon across tropical savannas, according to a case study in South Africa combined with a synthesis of data from tropical savannas globally.

  • Yong Zhou
  • , Barbara Bomfim
  •  & A. Carla Staver

• Article | 23 November 2020

  Synergistic effects of four climate change drivers on terrestrial carbon cycling

  Increases in atmospheric CO₂ can be dampened but also accelerated by the net impact on terrestrial carbon cycling of combined changes in temperature, rainfall, CO₂ and nitrogen, according to an eight-year grassland experiment in the United States.

  • Peter B. Reich
  • , Sarah E. Hobbie
  •  & Kally Worm

• News & Views | 22 July 2019

  Emergence of the African savannah

  African savannah grasslands initially proliferated in the late Miocene due to declining atmospheric CO₂, rather than previously proposed regional climate drying. Supplanting previous woodland vegetation due to photosynthetic adaptations, these grasslands set the stage for subsequent mammalian evolutionary trends on the continent.

  • Hayley Cawthra

• Article | 22 July 2019

  Synchronous rise of African C₄ ecosystems 10 million years ago in the absence of aridification

  Aridification did not cause the expansion of ecosystems using the C₄ photosynthetic pathway in parts of Africa 10 million years ago, according to leaf-wax analyses in deep-sea drill cores, leaving declining atmospheric carbon dioxide levels as the most plausible cause.

  • Pratigya J. Polissar
  • , Cassaundra Rose
  •  & Peter deMenocal

• Article | 08 May 2017

  Decadal soil carbon accumulation across Tibetan permafrost regions

  Climate change is expected to release carbon stored in permafrost soils. Sampling of sites across the Tibetan Plateau in the early 2000s and early 2010s reveals increased carbon stocks in shallow soils, which may offset losses from deeper soils.

  • Jinzhi Ding
  • , Leiyi Chen
  •  & Yuanhe Yang

• Article | 06 March 2017

  Sensitivity of grassland productivity to aridity controlled by stomatal and xylem regulation

  Grass species vary in their regulation of water use. Remote-sensing data reveal that productivity is more sensitive to atmospheric moisture than precipitation deficits, especially in grasslands where plants loosely regulate water use.

  • A. G. Konings
  • , A. P. Williams
  •  & P. Gentine

• News & Views | 02 November 2014

  A faulty fertilizer

  Elevated levels of CO₂ can stimulate photosynthesis in plants and increase their uptake of atmospheric carbon. A five-year study in Minnesota grasslands shows that increased plant uptake of CO₂ is restricted by the availability of vital nutrients and water.

  • Whendee L. Silver

• Article | 02 November 2014

  Plant growth enhancement by elevated CO₂ eliminated by joint water and nitrogen limitation

  Elevated CO₂ is known to fertilize plant growth, resulting in greater uptake of atmospheric CO₂ by plants. However, CO₂ fertilization in a perennial grassland is absent when plants are jointly limited by both water and nitrogen.

  • Peter B. Reich
  • , Sarah E. Hobbie
  •  & Tali D. Lee

• Letter | 20 October 2013

  The role of fire in Miocene to Pliocene C₄ grassland and ecosystem evolution

  Modern grasslands are dominated by grasses that use the C₄ photosynthetic pathway, and were established about 8 million years ago. A sediment record suggests that in southwestern Africa, the expansion of grasslands was associated with increasing aridity and fire activity, both of which favour grasses that use the C₄ pathway.

  • Sebastian Hoetzel
  • , Lydie Dupont
  •  & Gerold Wefer

• Article | 05 September 2010

  Contrasting response of European forest and grassland energy exchange to heatwaves

  European heatwaves have raised interest in the impact of land-cover conditions on temperature extremes. Analyses of observations from an extensive network of flux towers in Europe reveal a difference in the response of forests and grassland to extreme or long-lasting heat.

  • Adriaan J. Teuling
  • , Sonia I. Seneviratne
  •  & Georg Wohlfahrt