Cumulative nitrogen enrichment alters the drivers of grassland overyielding

Miao He, Kathryn E. Barry, Merel B. Soons, Eric Allan, Seraina L. Cappelli, Dylan Craven, Jiří Doležal, Forest Isbell, Vojtěch Lanta, Jan Lepš, Maowei Liang, Norman Mason, Cecilia Palmborg, Noémie A. Pichon, Laíse da Silveira Pontes, Peter B. Reich, Christiane Roscher, Yann Hautier

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Effects of plant diversity on grassland productivity, or overyielding, are found to be robust to nutrient enrichment. However, the impact of cumulative nitrogen (N) addition (total N added over time) on overyielding and its drivers are underexplored. Synthesizing data from 15 multi-year grassland biodiversity experiments with N addition, we found that N addition decreases complementarity effects and increases selection effects proportionately, resulting in no overall change in overyielding regardless of N addition rate. However, we observed a convex relationship between overyielding and cumulative N addition, driven by a shift from complementarity to selection effects. This shift suggests diminishing positive interactions and an increasing contribution of a few dominant species with increasing N accumulation. Recognizing the importance of cumulative N addition is vital for understanding its impacts on grassland overyielding, contributing essential insights for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem resilience in the face of increasing N deposition.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number309
JournalCommunications biology
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2024

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© The Author(s) 2024.

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  • Journal Article

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