University of Lorraine

About: University of Lorraine is a education organization based out in Nancy, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Nonlinear system. The organization has 11942 authors who have published 25010 publications receiving 425227 citations. The organization is also known as: Lorraine University.

Does Drought Influence the Relationship Between Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning in Boreal Forests

Abstract: In mixed forests, interactions among species influence ecosystem functioning but environmental conditions also play an important role in shaping relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. In the context of climate change, the carbon and water balance in pure versus mixed forest stands may be differentially influenced by changing soil water availability. To test this hypothesis, we compared the influence of biodiversity on stand water use efficiency (WUES) in boreal forests between wet and dry years. We assessed the carbon isotope composition (δ 13C) of tree rings in Betula pendula, Pinus sylvestris, and Picea abies growing in pure versus mixed stands. In addition, we tested whether differences in WUES affected patterns of stand basal area increment (BAIS). No biodiversity effect was found for stand δ 13C (δ 13CS) during the wet year. However, there was a significant increase in δ 13CS between the wet and the dry year and a significant effect of biodiversity on δ 13CS in the dry year. The increase in δ 13CS in mixed stands was associated with both selection and complementarity effects. Although BAIS decreased significantly in the dry year, changes in δ 13CS did not translate into variations in BAIS along the biodiversity gradient. Our results confirmed that the physiological response of boreal forest ecosystems to changing soil water conditions is influenced by species interactions and that during dry growing seasons, species interactions in mixed stands can lead to lower soil moisture availability. This illustrates that biodiversity effects can also be negative in mixed stands in the sense that soil resources can be more intensively exhausted. Overall, our results confirm that in boreal forests, the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationship depends on local environmental conditions.

Disclinations provide the missing mechanism for deforming olivine-rich rocks in the mantle

Abstract: Mantle flow involves large strains of polymineral aggregates. The strongly anisotropic plastic response of each individual grain in the aggregate results from the interactions between neighbouring grains and the continuity of material displacement across the grain boundaries. Orthorhombic olivine, which is the dominant mineral phase of the Earth's upper mantle, does not exhibit enough slip systems to accommodate a general deformation state by intracrystalline slip without inducing damage. Here we show that a more general description of the deformation process that includes the motion of rotational defects referred to as disclinations can solve the olivine deformation paradox. We use high-resolution electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) maps of deformed olivine aggregates to resolve the disclinations. The disclinations are found to decorate grain boundaries in olivine samples deformed experimentally and in nature. We present a disclination-based model of a high-angle tilt boundary in olivine, which demonstrates that an applied shear induces grain-boundary migration through disclination motion. This new approach clarifies grain-boundary-mediated plasticity in polycrystalline aggregates. By providing the missing mechanism for describing plastic flow in olivine, this work will permit multiscale modelling of the rheology of the upper mantle, from the atomic scale to the scale of the flow.