Elevated CO2 and water addition enhance nitrogen turnover in grassland plants with implications for temporal stability
2018
Dijkstra, Feike A. | Carrillo, Yolima | Blumenthal, Dana M. | Mueller, Kevin E. | LeCain, Dan R. | Morgan, Jack A. | Zelikova, Tamara J. | Williams, David G. | Follett, Ronald F. | Pendall, Elise
Temporal variation in soil nitrogen (N) availability affects growth of grassland communities that differ in their use and reuse of N. In a 7‐year‐long climate change experiment in a semi‐arid grassland, the temporal stability of plant biomass production varied with plant N turnover (reliance on externally acquired N relative to internally recycled N). Species with high N turnover were less stable in time compared to species with low N turnover. In contrast, N turnover at the community level was positively associated with asynchrony in biomass production, which in turn increased community temporal stability. Elevated CO₂ and summer irrigation, but not warming, enhanced community N turnover and stability, possibly because treatments promoted greater abundance of species with high N turnover. Our study highlights the importance of plant N turnover for determining the temporal stability of individual species and plant communities affected by climate change.
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