Precipitation and nitrogen addition enhance biomass allocation to aboveground in an alpine steppe

Li, Changbin; Zheng, Zhi; Peng, Yunfeng; Nie, Xiaodong; Yang, Lijing; Xiao, Yuanming; Zhou, Guoying

doi:10.1002/ece3.5706

Cited by 40 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Many studies showed that increased amounts of available N decreased root biomass and R/S 23 . The effect of N on grassland species is determined by rainfall conditions, and increasing soil N availability increased water absorption capacity of plants [23][24][25] . However, little is known with respect to how rainfall changes, N deposition and their interaction in semiarid grasslands will affect the allocation of aboveground and belowground biomass distribution of annuals and perennials.…”

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Effects of rainfall manipulation and nitrogen addition on plant biomass allocation in a semiarid sandy grassland

Zhang

Zuo

Zhao

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Extreme climate events and nitrogen (N) deposition are increasingly affecting the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems. However, the response of plant biomass to variations to these global change drivers is still unclear in semi-arid regions, especially in degraded sandy grasslands. In this study, a manipulative field experiment run over two years (from 2017 to 2018) was conducted to examine the effect of rainfall alteration and nitrogen addition on biomass allocation of annuals and perennial plants in Horqin sandy grassland, Northern China. Our experiment simulated extreme rainfall and extreme drought (a 60% reduction or increment in the growing season rainfall with respect to a control background) and N addition (20 g/m2) during the growing seasons. We found that the sufficient rainfall during late July and August compensates for biomass losses caused by insufficient water in May and June. When rainfall distribution is relatively uniform during the growing season, extreme rainfall increased aboveground biomass (AGB) and belowground biomass (BGB) of annuals, while extreme drought reduced AGB and BGB of perennials. Rainfall alteration had no significant impacts on the root-shoot ratio (R/S) of sandy grassland plants, while N addition reduced R/S of grassland species when there was sufficient rainfall in the early growing season. The biomass of annuals was more sensitive to rainfall alteration and nitrogen addition than the biomass of perennials. Our findings emphasize the importance of monthly rainfall distribution patterns during the growing season, which not only directly affect the growth and development of grassland plants, but also affect the nitrogen availability of grassland plants.

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Effects of rainfall manipulation and nitrogen addition on plant biomass allocation in a semiarid sandy grassland

Zhang

Zuo

Zhao

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…Alpine steppes are the dominant vegetation and comprised Stipa purpurea Grisebach, Poa crymophila Keng, and Leymus secalinus (Georgi) Tzvelev. The soil was classified as calcium soil order, semidry calcium soil suborder, and chestnut soil (Li et al, 2019).…”

Section: Study Site and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…NH 4 NO 3 was dissolved in 1 L of distilled water and sprinkled evenly twice into the plots of nitrogen addition during the peak growing season (midmonth of June and July). Identical amounts of distilled water were sprayed uniformly on the ambient nitrogen addition plots (Li et al, 2019).…”

Section: Study Site and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Fungal Community Composition, Not Assembly Process, Was Altered by Nitrogen Addition and Precipitation Changes at an Alpine Steppe

Xiao

Yang

et al. 2020

Front. Microbiol.

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Global climate change and nitrogen deposition have been having broad impacts on microorganisms. On the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), the responses of soil microbial community assemblage and diversity to nitrogen deposition and changes in precipitation are poorly understood, especially in the alpine steppe. In this study, we conducted a field manipulative experiment of nitrogen deposition and precipitation amount in an alpine steppe on the northeastern QTP and investigated the responses of community composition, diversity, and community assemblage of soil fungi. Soil fungal community compositions were significantly altered under nitrogen addition, precipitation change, and their interaction, and positively related with soil moisture, soil pH, and plant species richness. However, they were negatively related to soil mineralizable N and soil available P content. Operational taxonomic units (OTU) richness and Chao 1 index decreased under nitrogen addition combined with precipitation reduction treatment, whereas the Shannon-Wiener index declined only under precipitation increment treatment. Convergent fungal community assembly processes were not acutely altered by both nitrogen addition and precipitation changes, indicating that environmental filtering was a dominant ecological process controlling fungal community assemblage. By elucidating the above questions, the study enhanced our ability to predict the responses of soil fungal communities to nitrogen deposition and precipitation changes at alpine steppes on the QTP in the future.

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“…The responses of grassland ecosystems to N deposition are strongly regulated by precipitation patterns (Harpole et al, 2007). Increased precipitation, particularly under the background of N addition, could increase plant access to soil inorganic N resources (Li et al, 2019), so the effect of N addition on N 2 O emissions may be alleviated by water addition. In addition, decreased precipitation may suppress microbial activity, leading to inefficient N assimilation, despite the presence of large amounts of N substrates in the soil (Homyak et al, 2017;.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altered precipitation regimes mitigate N2O flux response to nitrogen addition in an alpine steppe

Yang¹,

Xiao²,

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Anthropogenic-driven global change, including changes in atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and precipitation patterns, is dramatically altering N cycling in soil. How long-term N deposition, precipitation changes, and their interaction influence nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions remains unknown, especially in the alpine steppes of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). To fill this knowledge gap, a platform of N addition and altered precipitation experiments was established in an alpine steppe of the QTP in 2013. N addition significantly increased N2O emissions, and alterations in soil NO3-N, pH, temperature, and belowground biomass modulated N2O emissions. In addition to abiotic parameters, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria dominated N2O emissions in nitrification compared with ammonia-oxidizing archaea. Changes in the denitrifying microbial community, namely a high ratio of (nirS+nirK) gene-containing to nosZ gene-containing organisms, were responsible for N2O emissions in denitrification. Altered precipitation did not affect N2O emissions. This unexpected finding, which is inconsistent with the conventional view that N2O emissions are controlled by soil water content, indicates that N2O emissions are particularly susceptible to N deposition in the alpine steppes. Notably, whereas N2O emissions were affected by N addition as a single factor, they were not significantly affected by the combination of precipitation changes and N addition, indicating that altered precipitation patterns may mitigate the positive feedback effect of N addition on N2O emissions. Consequently, our study suggests that the response of N2O emissions to N deposition in future global change scenarios will be affected by precipitation regimes in the alpine steppes.

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Precipitation and nitrogen addition enhance biomass allocation to aboveground in an alpine steppe

Cited by 40 publications

References 42 publications

Effects of rainfall manipulation and nitrogen addition on plant biomass allocation in a semiarid sandy grassland

Effects of rainfall manipulation and nitrogen addition on plant biomass allocation in a semiarid sandy grassland

Soil Fungal Community Composition, Not Assembly Process, Was Altered by Nitrogen Addition and Precipitation Changes at an Alpine Steppe

Altered precipitation regimes mitigate N2O flux response to nitrogen addition in an alpine steppe

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