Negative to positive shifts in diversity effects on soil nitrogen over time

Xinli Chen, Han Y. H. Chen (), Eric B. Searle, Chen Chen and Peter B. Reich
Additional contact information
Xinli Chen: Lakehead University
Han Y. H. Chen: Lakehead University
Eric B. Searle: Lakehead University
Chen Chen: Lakehead University
Peter B. Reich: University of Minnesota

Nature Sustainability, 2021, vol. 4, issue 3, 225-232

Abstract: Abstract Soil nitrogen (N) availability is of critical importance to the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Plant diversity continues to decline globally due to habitat conversion and degradation, but its influence on soil N remains uncertain. By conducting a global meta-analysis of 1,650 paired observations of soil N in plant species mixtures and monocultures from 149 studies, we show that, on average across observations, soil total N is 6.1% higher in species mixtures. This mixture effect on total N becomes more positive with the number of species in mixtures and with stand age. The mixture effects on net N mineralization rate and inorganic N concentrations shift from negative in young stands to positive in older stands with greater positive effects in more-diverse mixtures. These effects of mixtures were consistent among cropland, forest and grassland ecosystems and held across climate zones. Our results suggest that plant diversity conservation not only enhances the productivity of current vegetation but also increases soil N retention that will sustain the productivity of future vegetation.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00641-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natsus:v:4:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1038_s41893-020-00641-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/natsustain/

DOI: 10.1038/s41893-020-00641-y

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Sustainability is currently edited by Monica Contestabile

More articles in Nature Sustainability from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().