Ecosystem response to elevated CO2 levels limited by nitrogen-induced plant species shift

J. Adam Langley () and J. Patrick Megonigal
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J. Adam Langley: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland 21037, USA
J. Patrick Megonigal: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland 21037, USA

Nature, 2010, vol. 466, issue 7302, 96-99

Abstract: Ecosystem response to carbon dioxide The prevailing hypothesis of progressive nitrogen limitation states that the scarcity of soil resources, such as nitrogen, limits the response of ecosystems to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. It follows that adding nitrogen to soil should enhance total plant productivity in response to carbon dioxide fertilization in natural ecosystems. But there is little empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. This study finds that nitrogen addition initially enhances the carbon dioxide stimulation of plant productivity, but also promotes the encroachment of C4 grasses, the plant species at the study site that respond less strongly to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations. Overall, the observed shift in the plant community ultimately suppresses the carbon dioxide stimulation of plant productivity. The authors conclude that plant community shifts can act as a feedback effect that alters the whole ecosystem response to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations. Models that incorporate a positive effect of anthropogenic N on the elevated carbon dioxide response may overestimate future carbon uptake in terrestrial wildlands.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09176

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