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Tognetti PM, Prober SM, Báez S, Chaneton EJ, Firn J, Risch AC, Schuetz M, Simonsen AK, Yahdjian L, Borer ET, Seabloom EW, Arnillas CA, Bakker JD, Brown CS, Cadotte MW, Caldeira MC, Daleo P, Dwyer JM, Fay PA, Gherardi LA, Hagenah N, Hautier Y, Komatsu KJ, McCulley RL, Price JN, Standish RJ, Stevens CJ, Wragg PD, Sankaran M. Negative effects of nitrogen override positive effects of phosphorus on grassland legumes worldwide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2023718118. [PMID: 34260386 PMCID: PMC8285913 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2023718118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Anthropogenic nutrient enrichment is driving global biodiversity decline and modifying ecosystem functions. Theory suggests that plant functional types that fix atmospheric nitrogen have a competitive advantage in nitrogen-poor soils, but lose this advantage with increasing nitrogen supply. By contrast, the addition of phosphorus, potassium, and other nutrients may benefit such species in low-nutrient environments by enhancing their nitrogen-fixing capacity. We present a global-scale experiment confirming these predictions for nitrogen-fixing legumes (Fabaceae) across 45 grasslands on six continents. Nitrogen addition reduced legume cover, richness, and biomass, particularly in nitrogen-poor soils, while cover of non-nitrogen-fixing plants increased. The addition of phosphorous, potassium, and other nutrients enhanced legume abundance, but did not mitigate the negative effects of nitrogen addition. Increasing nitrogen supply thus has the potential to decrease the diversity and abundance of grassland legumes worldwide regardless of the availability of other nutrients, with consequences for biodiversity, food webs, ecosystem resilience, and genetic improvement of protein-rich agricultural plant species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro M Tognetti
- Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1417DSE, Argentina;
| | - Suzanne M Prober
- Land and Water, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Wembley, WA 6913, Australia;
| | - Selene Báez
- Department of Biology, Escuela Politécnica Nacional del Ecuador, 17-01-2759 Quito, Ecuador
| | - Enrique J Chaneton
- Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1417DSE, Argentina
| | - Jennifer Firn
- Centre for the Environment, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Anita C Risch
- Community Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Martin Schuetz
- Community Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Anna K Simonsen
- Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199
| | - Laura Yahdjian
- Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1417DSE, Argentina
| | - Elizabeth T Borer
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108
| | - Eric W Seabloom
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108
| | - Carlos Alberto Arnillas
- Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Jonathan D Bakker
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
| | - Cynthia S Brown
- Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Department of Agricultural Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523
| | - Marc W Cadotte
- Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Maria C Caldeira
- Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Pedro Daleo
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina
| | - John M Dwyer
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
- Ecosciences Precinct, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia
| | - Philip A Fay
- Grassland, Soil, and Water Research Lab, US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Temple, TX 76502
| | | | - Nicole Hagenah
- Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, 0028 Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Yann Hautier
- Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | | | - Rebecca L McCulley
- Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-0312
| | - Jodi N Price
- Institute of Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW 2640, Australia
| | - Rachel J Standish
- Environmental and Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
| | - Carly J Stevens
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, United Kingdom
| | - Peter D Wragg
- Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108
| | - Mahesh Sankaran
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru 560065, Karnataka, India
- School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
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