Key ecological responses to nitrogen are altered by climate change

Greaver, Tara L.; Clark, Christopher M.; Compton, Jana E.; Vallano, Dena M.; Talhelm, Alan F.; Weaver, C. P.; Band, Lawrence E.; Baron, Jill S.; Davidson, Eric A.; Tague, Christina; Felker‐Quinn, Emmi; Lynch, Jason; Herrick, Jeffrey D.; Liu, L.; Goodale, Christine L.; Novak, K.; Haeuber, Richard

doi:10.1038/nclimate3088

Cited by 304 publications

(207 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…Several meta‐analyses have shown that warming can generally increase the aboveground and belowground biomass across terrestrial ecosystems [ Greaver et al ., ; Lin et al ., ; Lu et al ., ; Rustad et al ., ], consistent with our findings. Plant N stocks increased due to higher biomass, as plant N concentrations decreased significantly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental warming increased soil nitrogen sink in the Tibetan permafrost

Chang

Wang

Yang

et al. 2017

J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci.

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In permafrost soil, warming regulates the nitrogen (N) cycle either by stimulating N transformation or by enhancing cryoturbation, the mixture of soil layers due to repeated freeze thaw. Here N isotopic values (δ15N) of plants and the soil were investigated in a 7 year warming experiment in a permafrost‐affected alpine meadow on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau. The results revealed that warming significantly decreased the δ15N in the plant (aboveground and belowground parts) and different soil fractions (clay and silt fraction, aggregate, and bulk soil). The decreased soil δ15N was associated with an increase in soil N stock due to greater N fixation. The incremental N retention in plants and soil mineral‐associated fractions from warming resulted in a decrease in soil inorganic N, which constrains the role of nitrification/denitrification in soil δ15N, suggesting a restrained rather than an open N cycle. Furthermore, enhanced cryoturbation under warming, identified by a downward redistribution of 137Cs into deeper layers, promoted N protection from transformation. Overall, the decrease in soil δ15N indicated higher rates of N input through fixation relative to N loss through nitrification and denitrification in permafrost‐affected ecosystems under warming conditions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental warming increased soil nitrogen sink in the Tibetan permafrost

Chang

Wang

Yang

et al. 2017

J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci.

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“…It has been demonstrated that Ra is tightly coupled with aboveground photosynthesis and increases with increasing root biomass (Hopkins et al, ). The meta‐analyses studies generally find that higher N availability can promote plant photosynthesis rate and increase net primary productivity, resulting in higher root biomass (Greaver et al, ). Consistently, we observed that the root biomass increased linearly with soil mineral N (Figure ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Respiration Components and their Temperature Sensitivity Under Chemical Fertilizer and Compost Application: The Role of Nitrogen Supply and Compost Substrate Quality

Chen

Castellano

et al. 2019

JGR Biogeosciences

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Understanding autotrophic (Ra) and heterotrophic (Rh) components of soil respiration (Rs) and their temperature sensitivity (Q10) is critical for predictingsoil carbon (C) cycle and its feedback to climate change. In agricultural systems, these processes can be considerably altered by chemical fertilizer and compost application due to changes in nitrogen (N) supply and substrate quality (decomposability). We conducted a field experiment including control, urea, and four compost treatments. Ra and Rh were separated using the root exclusion method. Composts were characterized by chemical analyses, 13C solid‐state nuclear magnetic resonance, and lignin monomers. Annual cumulative Ra, along with root biomass, increased with soil mineral N, while Rh was suppressed by excessive N supply. Thus, Ra was stimulated but Rh was decreased by urea alone application. Annual Rh was increased by application of compost, especially that containing most lignin vanillyl and syringyl units, O‐alkyl C, di‐O‐alkyl C, and manganese. However, during the initial period, Rh was most effectively stimulated by the compost containing most carbohydrates, lignin cinnamyl units, phenolic C, and calcium. Ra was mediated by N release from compost decomposition and thus exhibited similar responses to compost quality as Rh. The Rh Q10 was reduced, while Ra Q10was increased by chemical fertilizer and compost application. Moreover, the Rh Q10 negatively related to soil mineral N supply and compost indicators referring to high substrate quality. Overall, our results suggest that N supply and substrate quality played an important role in regulating soil C flux and its response to climate warming.

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“…Increases in temperature and water stress during summer, however, appear to have caused higher tree mortality rates (Allen et al., ; Hember, Kurz, & Coops, ), resulting in a net decrease in vegetation growth. The effects on vegetation growth of seasonal changes in other environmental factors, as well as their interactions with seasonal climate change effects, are presently unclear (Anderegg et al., ; Greaver et al., ; Reich, Hobbie, & Lee, ; Sitch et al., ). Specifically, the response of vegetation to eCO 2 concentration likely varies with seasonal changes in biotic and abiotic factors (Lewis, Tissue, & Strain, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attribution of seasonal leaf area index trends in the northern latitudes with “optimally” integrated ecosystem models

et al. 2017

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Significant increases in remotely sensed vegetation indices in the northern latitudes since the 1980s have been detected and attributed at annual and growing season scales. However, we presently lack a systematic understanding of how vegetation responds to asymmetric seasonal environmental changes. In this study, we first investigated trends in the seasonal mean leaf area index (LAI) at northern latitudes (north of 30°N) between 1982 and 2009 using three remotely sensed long-term LAI data sets. The most significant LAI increases occurred in summer (0.009 m m year , p < .01), followed by autumn (0.005 m m year , p < .01) and spring (0.003 m m year , p < .01). We then quantified the contribution of elevating atmospheric CO concentration (eCO ), climate change, nitrogen deposition, and land cover change to seasonal LAI increases based on factorial simulations from 10 state-of-the-art ecosystem models. Unlike previous studies that used multimodel ensemble mean (MME), we used the Bayesian model averaging (BMA) to optimize the integration of model ensemble. The optimally integrated ensemble LAI changes are significantly closer to the observed seasonal LAI changes than the traditional MME results. The BMA factorial simulations suggest that eCO provides the greatest contribution to increasing LAI trends in all seasons (0.003-0.007 m m year ), and is the main factor driving asymmetric seasonal LAI trends. Climate change controls the spatial pattern of seasonal LAI trends and dominates the increase in seasonal LAI in the northern high latitudes. The effects of nitrogen deposition and land use change are relatively small in all seasons (around 0.0002 m m year and 0.0001-0.001 m m year , respectively). Our analysis of the seasonal LAI responses to the interactions between seasonal changes in environmental factors offers a new perspective on the response of global vegetation to environmental changes.

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Key ecological responses to nitrogen are altered by climate change

Cited by 304 publications

References 94 publications

Experimental warming increased soil nitrogen sink in the Tibetan permafrost

Experimental warming increased soil nitrogen sink in the Tibetan permafrost

Soil Respiration Components and their Temperature Sensitivity Under Chemical Fertilizer and Compost Application: The Role of Nitrogen Supply and Compost Substrate Quality

Attribution of seasonal leaf area index trends in the northern latitudes with “optimally” integrated ecosystem models

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