Determining Change in Coastal Barrier Island Dune Vegetation Following a Decade of Nitrogen Fertilization

Day, Frank P.; Adams, Emily C.; Gibala-Smith, Leah; Graziani, Dominic J.; McMillan, Brett A.; Sedghi, Nathan; Shafer, Justin; Smith, Matt

doi:10.2112/jcoastres-d-17-00190.1

Cited by 6 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Our data shows that N, P, and NP enrichment all result in species re-ordering of a few key species and increased dominance of top-ranking species. These findings expand on previous dune research showing N fertilization increases the dominance of certain species over time [ 37 , 61 ]. Ammophila breviligulata and S .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…breviligulata and S . patens ), a well-documented response to N additions in coastal dunes [ 37 , 61 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research suggests long-standing community change on barrier island dunes by altered N flux is primarily driven by competitive exclusion [ 37 , 61 ]. We expand upon these findings by showing similar patterns in coastal grasslands and propose that certain characteristics of successful species promote increased abundance in nutrient enrichment plots thus altering community organization and composition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plots fertilized with N had significantly lower species evenness compared to plots that received no N treatment. This pattern is likely driven by increased dominance of the top ranked species in the community (A. breviligulata and S. patens), a well-documented response to N additions in coastal dunes [37,61].…”

Section: Community Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Impacts of nutrient enrichment on barrier island grassland systems has not accrued much focus despite previous work indicating community composition and productivity changes in coastal dune systems [ 37 , 43 , 61 ]. We show that some patterns are conserved across dune and grassland habitats such as nutrient enrichment increases aboveground graminoid biomass.…”

Section: Conclusion and Implications For Barrier Island Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant community re-organization and increased productivity due to multi-year nutrient enrichment of a coastal grassland

Brown

Moulton²,

Zinnert³

2022

PLoS ONE

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Nutrient enrichment alters plant community structure and function at a global scale. Coastal plant systems are expected to experience increased rates of nitrogen and phosphorus deposition by 2100, caused mostly by anthropogenic activity. Despite high density of studies investigating connections between plant community structure and ecosystem function in response to nutrient addition, inconsistencies in system response based on the ecosystem in question calls for more detailed analyses of nutrient impacts on community organization and resulting productivity response. Here, we focus on nutrient addition impacts on community structure and organization as well as productivity of different lifeforms in a coastal grassland. We established long-term nutrient enrichment plots in 2015 consisting of control (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and nitrogen + phosphorus (NP) treatments. In 2017 we collected graminoid and forb productivity, root productivity, and community composition for each plot. We found no N x P interaction, but N enrichment was a significant main effect on productivity, highlighting N limitation in coastal systems. Importantly, nutrient enrichment treatments did not alter root productivity. However, all treatments caused significant differences in community composition. Using rank abundance curves, we determined that community composition differences were driven by increased dominance of nitrophilous graminoids, re-organization of subordinate species, and species absences in N and NP plots. Results of this study highlight how coastal grassland communities are impacted by nutrient enrichment. We show that community re-organization, increased dominance, and absence of critical species are all important mechanisms that reflect community-level impacts of nutrient enrichment in our coastal grassland site.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…breviligulata and S . patens ), a well-documented response to N additions in coastal dunes [ 37 , 61 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Community Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conclusion and Implications For Barrier Island Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Plant community re-organization and increased productivity due to multi-year nutrient enrichment of a coastal grassland

Brown

Moulton²,

Zinnert³

2022

PLoS ONE

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Nitrogen addition and fungal symbiosis alter early dune plant succession

et al. 2023

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Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) enrichment can have complex effects on plant communities. In low-nutrient, primary successional systems such as sand dunes, N enrichment may alter the trajectory of plant community assembly or the dominance of foundational, ecosystem-engineering plants. Predicting the consequences of N enrichment may be complicated by plant interactions with microbial symbionts because increases in a limiting resource, such as N, could alter the costs and benefits of symbiosis. To evaluate the direct and interactive effects of microbial symbiosis and N addition on plant succession, we established a long-term field experiment in Michigan, USA, manipulating the presence of the symbiotic fungal endophyte Epichloë amarillans in Ammophila breviligulata, a dominant ecosystem-engineering dune grass species. From 2016 to 2020, we implemented N fertilization treatments (control, low, high) in a subset of the long-term experiment. N addition suppressed the accumulation of plant diversity over time mainly by reducing species richness of colonizing plants. However, this suppression occurred only when the endophyte was present in Ammophila . Although Epichloë enhanced Ammophila tiller density over time, N addition did not strongly interact with Epichloë symbiosis to influence vegetative growth of Ammophila . Instead, N addition directly altered plant community composition by increasing the abundance of efficient colonizers, especially C 4 grasses. In conclusion, hidden microbial symbionts can alter the consequences of N enrichment on plant primary succession. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00442-023-05362-5.

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Combined effect of plastic litter and increased atmospheric nitrogen deposition on vegetative propagules of dune plants: A further threat to coastal ecosystems

Menicagli

Balestri

Vallerini

et al. 2020

Environmental Pollution

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Determining Change in Coastal Barrier Island Dune Vegetation Following a Decade of Nitrogen Fertilization

Cited by 6 publications

References 15 publications

Plant community re-organization and increased productivity due to multi-year nutrient enrichment of a coastal grassland

Plant community re-organization and increased productivity due to multi-year nutrient enrichment of a coastal grassland

Nitrogen addition and fungal symbiosis alter early dune plant succession

Combined effect of plastic litter and increased atmospheric nitrogen deposition on vegetative propagules of dune plants: A further threat to coastal ecosystems

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