Cumulative nitrogen enrichment alters the drivers of grassland overyielding

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.15 multi-year grassland biodiversity experiments suggest that with increasing cumulative nitrogen addition, the effect of diversity on productivity becomes increasingly reliant on a small number of dominant species rather than on overall species richness.

Published in

Communications biology
2024, volume: 7, number: 1, article number: 309
Publisher: NATURE PORTFOLIO

SLU Authors

• Palmborg, Cecilia

  • Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-05999-9

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/129281