Abstract
Open grassy vegetation and forests share riparian zones across the Neotropical savannas, characterizing alternative stable states. However, factors determining the occurrence and maintenance of each vegetation type are yet to be elucidated. To disentangle the role of environmental factors (soil properties and groundwater depth) constraining tree colonization of wet grasslands in the Cerrado, we assessed tree establishment during the early seedling and sapling stages and the influence of these factors on leaf gas exchange and leaf water potential of tree saplings. Three functionally distinct tree species were studied: (1) flood-tolerant species characteristic of gallery forests, (2) flood-intolerant species characteristic of seasonally dry savannas, and (3) generalist species found in both gallery forests and seasonally dry savannas. Savanna species was constrained by waterlogging, especially at the sapling stage, with restricted stomatal conductance and leaf water potential, resulting in low carbon assimilation, decreased plant size, and high mortality (above 80%). The gallery forest and the generalist species, however, were able to colonize the wet grasslands and survive, despite the low seedling emergence (below 30%) and sapling growth constrained by low gas exchange rates. Soil waterlogging is, therefore, an effective environmental filter that prevents savanna trees from expanding over wet grasslands. However, colonization by trees adapted to a shallow water table cannot be constrained by this or other soil properties, turning the wet grasslands dependent on natural disturbances to persist as an alternative state, sharing the waterlogged environments with the gallery forests in the Cerrado region.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Instituto Florestal do Estado de São Paulo for research permit (#010.244/2015) and for assistance during the field work. We thank L. Pinheiro, R. Bailon, T. Montenegro, D. Chaves, R. Gonçalo, G. Marroni, G. Maekawa, S. Cassemiro, and G. Schmidt for their assistance during the field work. We are thankful to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq, for the funding granted to JWFR (#141443/2016-2), GD (#303179/2016-3), and DRR (#302897/2018-6). RMK received research grant from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo—FAPESP (#15/24093-3). We thank the anonymous reviewers who provided helpful feedback and greatly improved this manuscript.
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GD conceived the research; GD, RMK, DRR and JWFR designed methodology. JWFR performed experiments and data collection. NALP and JWFR analyzed the data. JWFR wrote the manuscript with contributions of all the other authors.
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Communicated by Hermann Heilmeier.
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Ribeiro, J.W.F., Pilon, N.A.L., Rossatto, D.R. et al. The distinct roles of water table depth and soil properties in controlling alternative woodland-grassland states in the Cerrado. Oecologia 195, 641–653 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04869-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04869-z