Elevated CO2 and water addition enhance nitrogen turnover in grassland plants with implications for temporal stability |
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| Authors: | Feike A. Dijkstra Yolima Carrillo Dana M. Blumenthal Kevin E. Mueller Dan R. LeCain Jack A. Morgan Tamara J. Zelikova David G. Williams Ronald F. Follett Elise Pendall |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Sydney Institute of Agriculture, The University of Sydney, Camden, NSW, Australia;2. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia;3. Rangeland Resources & Systems Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Fort Collins, CO, USA;4. Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA;5. Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA;6. Agricultural Research Service, Soil Plant and Nutrient Research Unit, United States Department of Agriculture, CO, USA |
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| Abstract: | 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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| Keywords: | 15N stable isotopes global warming grassland species nitrogen cycling plant uptake pulse‐chase reallocation resorption semi‐arid |
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