Community and leaf-level controls of carbon fluxes in an invaded New Zealand alpine tussock grassland

Abstract

Climate warming and plant invasion are reshaping alpine communities, yet their combined effects on ecosystem carbon (C) balance remain poorly understood. We studied how warming and invasion interact to influence community level C fluxes, and the mechanisms underpinning these responses. Using field experiments manipulating warming and invader removal in two New Zealand alpine grasslands dominated by functionally distinct invaders (a shrub, Calluna vulgaris, and a forb, hawkweeds), we quantified net ecosystem exchange (NEE), gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER), alongside community, trait and abiotic factors. Warming did not enhance C uptake at either site, and we found no evidence of synergistic warming x invasion effects. Instead, responses were invader-dependent. At the shrub-invaded site, warming increased net C loss through elevated respiration without corresponding gains in GPP. In contrast, fluxes at the forb-invaded site were largely insensitive to treatments. Variation in C fluxes were driven by abiotic conditions and trait dominance at the shrub site, whereas species diversity (richness and evenness) exerted stronger control at the forb site. Our findings demonstrate that the impacts of invasion on ecosystem C balance depend on invader functional identity, with contrasting roles for trait dominance and biodiversity in regulating ecosystem function under warming.