Abstract
Microbial processing of aggregate-unprotected organic matter inputs is key for soil fertility, long-term ecosystem carbon and nutrient sequestration and sustainable agriculture. We investigated the effects of adding multiple nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium plus nine essential macro- and micro-nutrients) on decomposition and biochemical transformation of standard plant materials buried in 21 grasslands from four continents. Addition of multiple nutrients weakly but consistently increased decomposition and biochemical transformation of plant remains during the peak-season, concurrent with changes in microbial exoenzymatic activity. Higher mean annual precipitation and lower mean annual temperature were the main climatic drivers of higher decomposition rates, while biochemical transformation of plant remains was negatively related to temperature of the wettest quarter. Nutrients enhanced decomposition most at cool, high rainfall sites, indicating that in a warmer and drier future fertilized grassland soils will have an even more limited potential for microbial processing of plant remains.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 4572-4582 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Global change biology |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 1 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was generated using data from the Nutrient Network ( http://www.nutnet.org ) experiment, funded at the site‐scale by individual researchers. Coordination and data management have been supported by funding to E. Borer and E. Seabloom from the National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (NSF‐DEB‐1042132) and Long Term Ecological Research (DEB‐1234162 & DEB1831944 to Cedar Creek LTER) programs, and the Institute on the Environment (DG‐0001‐13). We also thank the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute for hosting project data and the Institute on the Environment for hosting Network meetings. R.O.H. is financially supported by a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship from MICIU (RYC‐2017‐22032). C.S.B. acknowledges support provided by Colorado Agricultural Research Station and the Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management. JMS acknowledges the Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsrådet for funding. NE acknowledges the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig, funded by the German Research Foundation (FZT 118). MC acknowledges C Lezírias and FCT for UIDB/00239/2020.
Funding Information:
This work was generated using data from the Nutrient Network (http://www.nutnet.org) experiment, funded at the site-scale by individual researchers. Coordination and data management have been supported by funding to E. Borer and E. Seabloom from the National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (NSF-DEB-1042132) and Long Term Ecological Research (DEB-1234162 & DEB1831944 to Cedar Creek LTER) programs, and the Institute on the Environment (DG-0001-13). We also thank the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute for hosting project data and the Institute on the Environment for hosting Network meetings. R.O.H. is financially supported by a Ram?n y Cajal Fellowship from MICIU (RYC-2017-22032). C.S.B. acknowledges support provided by Colorado Agricultural Research Station and the Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management. JMS acknowledges the Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsr?det for funding. NE acknowledges the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, funded by the German Research Foundation (FZT 118).?MC acknowledges C Lez?rias and FCT for UIDB/00239/2020.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Keywords
- NutNet
- carbon cycling and sequestration
- decomposition
- eutrophication
- fertilization
- microbial activity
- nutrient (co-)limitation