Slow recovery of <scp>H</scp>igh <scp>A</scp>rctic heath communities from nitrogen enrichment

Street, Lorna E.; Burns, Nancy R.; Woodin, Sarah J.

doi:10.1111/nph.13265

Cited by 32 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Both of these experiments showed species composition significantly different to untreated controls and in the C. tetragona dominated heathland lichen cover remained significantly different too. Whilst N concentrations in shrub tissues showed no significant difference from untreated controls, levels in bryophytes remained elevated (Street et al, 2015). In a reciprocal transplant experiment where turfs of R. lanuginosum were relocated from sites with deposition between 8.2 and 32.9 kg N ha − 1 yr −1 to a site with 7.2 kg N ha −1 yr − 1 cover and depth of R. lanuginosum showed no significant difference to the source site controls but biomass was significantly higher than the controls.…”

Section: Impacts Of N Reduction In Heathlandsmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Species composition and richness generally seem to be slow to recover with some long-term investigations still showing differences after a decade or more (e.g. Stevens et al, 2012a;Street et al, 2015;Strengbom et al, 2001). This is not the case for all long-term investigations, Storkey et al (2015) reported changes in species composition of control plots of the Park Grass experiment which could be correlated with changes in N deposition.…”

Section: Impacts Of N Reduction In Wetlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How long do ecosystems take to recover from atmospheric nitrogen deposition?

Stevens

2016

Biological Conservation

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Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is a considerable threat to biodiversity and ecosystem function globally. Many experimental N additions and studies using gradients of ambient deposition have demonstrated impacts on plant species richness, diversity and composition in a broad range of habitats together with changes in soil biogeochemistry. In the last two decades levels of N deposition have begun to decline in some parts of Europe but it is currently difficult to assess the extent to which reductions in N deposition will result in recovery within seminatural habitats. There have been a number of investigations using the cessation of N additions in long-term experiments, monitoring in areas where ambient deposition has declined, transplants to situations with lower N inputs and roof experiments where rain is collected and cleaned. This review collates evidence from experiments in grasslands, forests, heathlands and wetlands where N additions have ceased or where N inputs have been reduced to assess how likely it is that habitats will recover from N deposition. The results of the majority of studies suggest that vegetation species composition, below-ground communities and soil processes may be slow to recover whereas some soil variables, such as nitrate and ammonium concentrations, can respond relatively rapidly to reductions in N inputs. There are a number of barriers to recovery such as continued critical load exceedance and lack of seed bank or local seed source, and there is the potential for vegetation communities to reach an alternative stable state where species lost as a consequence of changes due to N deposition may not be able to recolonise. In these cases only active restoration efforts can restore damaged habitats.

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Section: Impacts Of N Reduction In Heathlandsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Impacts Of N Reduction In Wetlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How long do ecosystems take to recover from atmospheric nitrogen deposition?

Stevens

2016

Biological Conservation

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“…, Street et al. ) suggesting colimitation in some instances. However, the soils in this region are volcanic in origin with andic properties including relatively high P and water retention capacity (Arnalds ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Increased duration of aquatic resource pulse alters community and ecosystem responses in a subarctic plant community

Gratton

Hoekman

Dreyer

et al. 2017

Ecology

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Allochthonous resource movement across ecosystem boundaries creates episodic linkages between ecosystems. The sensitivity of the community to external resources of varying duration can alter the baseline upon which future pulses of allochthony can act. We explored the terrestrial ecosystem response to pulsed inputs of lake-derived resources with a manipulative experiment in a subarctic heathland where we assessed plant community and nutrient availability responses to additions of midge carcasses (Diptera: Chironomidae). Insect carcasses were added as either a one-time pulse or a 4-yr press to simulate differing durations of allochthony, which is common in the area. We found that midge pulses significantly elevated soil inorganic [N] in the first year (7× over background levels) but were significantly diminished (1.5×) by the second year after the initial pulse. The press treatment continued to elevate total soil inorganic [N] to 13× over background levels by the fourth year of midge additions, but then declined to 3.6× background in year 5 when experimental midge additions had ceased. In contrast to the soil inorganic N response, plant biomass was similar in pulse-addition and control plots over the course of the experiment. However, by the second year of the study plant biomass in press-addition plots were significantly higher than controls (>50%), and continued to increase over the 4 yr of the press treatment. Midge addition stimulated dominance of graminoids and thatch litter in plots that had previously been primarily heathland vegetation, a response that persisted 4 yr post-midge addition. Our findings suggest that soil and plant community responses to persistent insect carcass deposition (e.g., press) into heathland vegetation has the potential to carry forward in a way that modifies the baseline ecosystem conditions upon which additional allochthony may act.

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“…Based on these results they could not rule out ecological impacts from even relatively small increases in reactive N deposition in such ecosystems. Recently, Street et al (2015) uniquely assessed the potential for tundra heath to recover from N deposition and the influence of phosphorus (P) availability on recovery based on an experimental site in Svalbard. The empirical critical load of N for tundra is set at 3-5 kg N ha-1 yr-1 (Bobbink & Hettelingh 2011).…”

Section: Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Importantly, N + P has caused dramatically increased moss abundance, which influences nutrient dynamics. Street et al (2015) finally concluded that Arctic ecosystems are slow to recover from even small N inputs, particularly where P is not limiting. Hence, fragile and nutrient limited ecosystems in mountains and in the Arctic and Polar regions should be considered as vulnerable and included in future monitoring systems.…”

Section: Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%