Interactions among nutrients govern the global grassland biomass-precipitation relationship

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fay, Philip A.; Gherardi, Laureano A.; Yahdjian, Laura; Adler, Peter B.; Bakker, Jonathan D.; Bharath, Siddharth; Borer, Elizabeth T.; Harpole, W. Stanley; Green, Erika Hersch -; Huxman, Travis E.; Macdougall, Andrew S.; Risch, Anita C.; Seabloom, Eric W.; Bagchi, Sumanta; Barrio, Isabel C.; Biederman, Lori; Buckley, Yvonne M.; Bugalho, Miguel N.; Caldeira, Maria C.; Catford, Jane A.; Chen, Qingqing; Cleland, Elsa E.; Collins, Scott L.; Daleo, Pedro; Dickman, Christopher R.; Donohue, Ian; Dupre, Mary E.; Eisenhauer, Nico; Eskelinen, Anu; Hagenah, Nicole; Hautier, Yann; Heckman, Robert W.; Jonsdottir, Ingibjoerg S.; Knops, Johannes M. H.; Laungani, Ramesh; Martina, Jason P.; Mcculley, Rebecca L.; Morgan, John W.; Venterink, Harry Olde; Peri, Pablo L.; Power, Sally A.; Raynaud, Xavier; Ren, Zhengwei; Roscher, Christiane; Smith, Melinda D.; Spohn, Marie; Stevens, Carly J.; Tedder, Michelle J.; Virtanen, Risto; Wardle, Glenda M.; Wheeler, George R.
• 署名单位: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET); University of Buenos Aires; Utah System of Higher Education; Utah State University; Utah System of Higher Education; Utah State University; University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; German Research Foundation (DFG); German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv); Helmholtz Association; Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ); Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg; Michigan Technological University; University of Guelph; Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow & Landscape Research; Indian Institute of Science (IISC) - Bangalore; Iowa State University; Trinity College Dublin; Universidade de Lisboa; Universidade de Lisboa; Centro de Estudos Florestais; University of London; King's College London; Australian National University; Leibniz Association; Senckenberg Gesellschaft fur Naturforschung (SGN); University of California System; University of California San Diego; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET); National University of Mar del Plata; University of Sydney; Trinity College Dublin; Leipzig University; University of Oulu; University of Pretoria; Utrecht University; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin; University of Iceland; Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University; Marist College; Texas State University System; Texas State University San Marcos; University of Kentucky; La Trobe University; Vrije Universiteit Brussel; Western Sydney University; Sorbonne Universite; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); CNRS - National Institute for Biology (INSB); Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm); Lanzhou University; Lanzhou University; Colorado State University System; Colorado State University Fort Collins; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Lancaster University; University of Kwazulu Natal; University of Sydney; University of Nebraska System; University of Nebraska Lincoln
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-11046
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2410748122
• 发表日期: 2025-04-11
• 关键词: plant community composition; species richness; functional diversity; nitrogen limitation; resource limitation; ecosystem function; use efficiency; soil texture; responses; PRODUCTIVITY

摘要

Ecosystems are experiencing changing global patterns of mean annual precipitation (MAP) and enrichment with multiple nutrients that potentially colimit plant biomass production. In grasslands, mean aboveground plant biomass is closely related to MAP, but how this relationship changes after enrichment with multiple nutrients remains unclear. We hypothesized the global biomass-MAP relationship becomes steeper with an increasing number of added nutrients, with increases in steepness corresponding to the form of interaction among added nutrients and with increased mediation by changes in plant community diversity. We measured aboveground plant biomass production and species diversity in 71 grasslands on six continents representing the global span of grassland MAP, diversity, management, and soils. We fertilized all sites with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium with micronutrients in all combinations to identify which nutrients limited biomass at each site. As hypothesized, fertilizing with one, two, or three nutrients progressively steepened the global biomass-MAP relationship. The magnitude of the increase in steepness corresponded to whether sites were not limited by nitrogen or phosphorus, were limited by either one, or were colimited by both in additive, or synergistic forms. Unexpectedly, we found only weak evidence for mediation of biomass-MAP relationships by plant community diversity because relationships of species richness, evenness, and beta diversity to MAP and to biomass were weak or opposing. Site-level properties including baseline biomass production, soils, and management explained little variation in biomass-MAP relationships. These findings reveal multiple nutrient colimitation as a defining feature of the global grassland biomass-MAP relationship.