Editorial: Tropical Forest Ecosystem Responses to Increasing Nutrient Availability

Homeier, Jürgen; Báez, Selene; Hertel, Dietrich; Leuschner, Christoph

doi:10.3389/feart.2017.00027

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Changes in the availability of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) are supposed to affect ecosystem dynamics in tropical forests (Tanner et al 1998, Lewis & Tanner 2000, Elser et al 2007, Vitousek et al 2010, Harpole et al 2011, Homeier et al 2012, 2017, Fisher et al 2013, Peñuelas et al 2013. Sources of N inputs include N compounds emitted from farming, livestock, and combustion of fossil fuel and biomass burning (Galloway et al 2008, Peñuelas et al 2013, whereas the only sources of atmospheric P deposition are mineral aerosols (Mahowald et al 2005, Peñuelas et al 2013.…”

Section: Human Alteration Of Nutrient Availability In Ecosystems Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting species responses to continued nitrogen and phosphorus addition in tropical montane forest tree seedlings

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Global changes in nutrient deposition rates are likely to have profound effects on plant communities, particularly in the nutrient‐limited systems of the tropics. We studied the effects of increased nutrient availability on the seedlings of six tree species in montane forests of southern Ecuador in situ. After five years of continued N, P, or N+P addition, naturally grown seedlings of each of the two most common species at each elevation (1000, 2000, and 3000 m asl) were harvested for analyses of leaf morphology, nutrient content, herbivory, and tissue biomass allocation. Most species showed increased foliar N and P concentrations after addition of each respective element. Leaf tissue N:P ratios of >20 in the control plants of all species suggest that P is more growth‐limiting in these forests than N. Leaf morphological responses to nutrient addition were species and nutrient specific, with some species (Hedyosmum purparescens, Graffenrieda emarginata) exhibiting increased specific leaf area (SLA), and others (Graffenrieda harlingii) increased leaf area ratios (LAR). Pouteria torta (1000 m) had lower SLA and LAR after P addition. Increased herbivory was only evident in G. emarginata (after N and N+P addition). Only the species from 3000 m asl modified biomass allocation after nutrient addition. In general, N and N+P addition more strongly affected the species studied at the upper elevations, whereas P addition had a similar range of effects on the species at all elevations. We conclude that the responses of the studied tropical montane forest tree seedlings to chronic N and P addition are highly species‐specific and that successful adaptation to increased nutrient availability will depend on species‐specific morphological and physiological plasticity.

show abstract

Section: Human Alteration Of Nutrient Availability In Ecosystems Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting species responses to continued nitrogen and phosphorus addition in tropical montane forest tree seedlings

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tree growth in tropical montane forests (TMF) is supposed to be limited by N or co‐limited by N and P (Dalling, Heineman, González, & Ostertag, ; Santiago, ; Tanner, Vitousek, & Cuevas, ). Thus, altered nutrient availability can be problematic for the conservation of highly diverse TMF because nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations determine critical aspects of tree growth and forest functioning, including tree species distributions, functional trait expression, community structure, and dynamics at the landscape scale (Homeier, Báez, Hertel, & Leuschner, ). Moreover, there is growing experimental evidence that enhanced resource availability shifts of competitive interactions (Suding et al., ) and decrease species diversity due to the loss of niche dimensionality (Harpole et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional traits determine tree growth and ecosystem productivity of a tropical montane forest: Insights from a long‐term nutrient manipulation experiment

Báez

Homeier

2017

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Trait-response effects are critical to forecast community structure and biomass production in highly diverse tropical forests. Ecological theory and few observation studies indicate that trees with acquisitive functional traits would respond more strongly to higher resource availability than those with conservative traits. We assessed how long-term tree growth in experimental nutrient addition plots (N, P, and N + P) varied as a function of morphological traits, tree size, and species identity. We also evaluated how trait-based responses affected stand scale biomass production considering the community structure. We found that tree growth depended on interactions between functional traits and the type or combination of nutrients added. Common species with acquisitive functional traits responded more strongly to nutrient addition, mainly to N + P. Phosphorous enhanced the growth rates of species with acquisitive and conservative traits, had mostly positive effects on common species and neutral or negative effects in rare species. Moreover, trees receiving N + P grew faster irrespective of their initial size relative to trees in control or to trees in other treatment plots.Finally, species responses were highly idiosyncratic suggesting that community processes including competition and niche dimensionality may be altered under increased resource availability. We found no statistically significant effects of nutrient additions on aboveground biomass productivity because acquisitive species had a limited potential to increase their biomass, possibly due to their generally lower wood density. In contrast, P addition increased the growth rates of species characterized by more conservative resource strategies (with higher wood density) that were poorly represented in the plant community. We provide the first long-term experimental evidence that trait-based responses, community structure, and community processes modulate the effects of increased nutrient availability on biomass productivity in a tropical forest.

show abstract

“…With the increasing impact of global climate change, dramatic alterations of many ecosystems are expected in the near future (Diffenbaugh and Field, 2013). Besides climatic abnormalities, the increased input of atmospheric nitrogen is an additional important factor (Homeier et al, 2017;Penuelas et al, 2013). Many ecosystems have developed under and are adapted to nutrientlimited conditions (Chapin III, Vitousek, and Van Cleve, 1986), so that modification of species composition and ecosystem functioning are likely when nutrient conditions change (Allan et al, 2015).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Increasing Nutrient Availability on Fern and Lycophyte Diversity

Weigand

Homeier

Lehnert

et al. 2022

American Fern Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increased nutrient supply can have drastic effects on natural ecosystems, especially in naturally nutrient-poor ones such as most tropical rainforests. Many studies have focused on the reaction of trees to fertilization, but little is known about herbaceous plants. Ferns are a particularly common group in tropical forests, spanning all vegetation types and zones. Here, we assess how seven years of moderate addition of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and N+P along an elevational gradient (1000-3000 m) have impacted richness and composition of fern and lycophyte assemblages in tropical montane rain forests growing on naturally nutrient deficient soils in the Ecuadorian Andes. We found that fertilization does not affect overall species richness, but that there were strong differences in species abundances (60% of species), both negative and positive, that were apparently related to the systematic affiliations and ecological properties of the affected species. These diverse responses of ferns to fertilization provide insight into the sensitivity and complexity of the relationships of nutrient availability and community composition in tropical forests.

show abstract

Editorial: Tropical Forest Ecosystem Responses to Increasing Nutrient Availability

Cited by 11 publications

References 15 publications

Contrasting species responses to continued nitrogen and phosphorus addition in tropical montane forest tree seedlings

Contrasting species responses to continued nitrogen and phosphorus addition in tropical montane forest tree seedlings

Functional traits determine tree growth and ecosystem productivity of a tropical montane forest: Insights from a long‐term nutrient manipulation experiment

Influence of Increasing Nutrient Availability on Fern and Lycophyte Diversity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About