Micro-climatic effects on plant phenolics at the community level in a Mediterranean savanna

Abstract

Research has shown that warming and drought change plant phenolics. However, much of this work has centered on the effects of individual abiotic stressors on single plant species rather than the concurrent effects of multiple stressors at the plant community level. To address this gap, we manipulated rainfall and air temperature to test for their individual and interactive effects on the expression of leaf phenolics at the community level for annual plant species occurring in two habitat types (under oak tree canopies or in open grasslands) in a Mediterranean savanna. We found that augmented temperature had a significant positive effect on the community-weighted mean of total phenolics whereas reduced rainfall had no effect. In addition, we found no evidence of interactive effects between climatic stressors and these patterns remained consistent across habitat types. Overall, this study points at increasing efforts to investigate the linkages between climate change and community-level shifts in plant secondary chemistry.