Turning Up the Heat: More Persistent Precipitation Regimes Weaken the Micro‐Climate Buffering Capacity of Forage Grasses During a Hot Summer

作者：Simon Reynaert, Ivan Nijs, Tommy D’Hose, Erik Verbruggen, Jutte Callaerts, Hans J. De Boeck · 发表于：Global Change Biology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1111/gcb.70078 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Ruminant Nutrition and Digestive Physiology、Turfgrass Adaptation and Management、Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems

Developing climate-proof forage grasslands does not only require developing plant communities that are soil drought resistant, but also adept at buffering elevated atmospheric temperatures to minimize heat stress for plant and soil. Previous studies indicate that the emerging trend towards rainfall regimes with longer dry and wet spells negatively affects forage grass performance (i.e., greater physiological plant stress and yield loss) in Western Europe. We conducted a 120-day open-air experiment testing whether a hot summer (+3°C for the first 60 days) exacerbates the negative effects of increased persistence in precipitation regimes (PR) (3 vs. 30 days consecutive wet/dry) on the performance of four distinct forage varieties (Dactylis glomerata, Festuca arundinacea, Lolium perenne (tetraploid) and Lolium perenne (diploid)) across two soils differing in management history (permanent vs. temporary grasslands). Our results indicate that climate warming indeed worsens negative effects of more persistent PR on forage grass productivity and physiological plant stress by inducing more extreme soil drought and elevated micro-climatic temperatures, but permanent grassland soils with elevated organic carbon can buffer yields. Moreover, higher yielding varieties are more proficient at buffering soil surface and canopy temperatures and maintaining plant greenness and stomatal opening under water shortage and elevated temperatures (Dactylis and Festuca) were impacted less than those wh...