Responses of nitrogen concentrations and pools to multiple environmental change drivers: A meta-analysis across terrestrial ecosystems

TY - JOUR

T1 - Responses of nitrogen concentrations and pools to multiple environmental change drivers

T2 - A meta-analysis across terrestrial ecosystems

AU - Yue, Kai

AU - Peng, Yan

AU - Fornara, Dario A.

AU - Van Meerbeek, Koenraad

AU - Vesterdal, Lars

AU - Yang, Wanqin

AU - Peng, Changhui

AU - Tan, Bo

AU - Zhou, Wei

AU - Xu, Zhenfeng

AU - Ni, Xiangyin

AU - Zhang, Li

AU - Wu, Fuzhong

AU - Svenning, Jens Christian

PY - 2019/5

Y1 - 2019/5

N2 - Aim: We sought to understand how the individual and combined effects of multiple environmental change drivers differentially influence terrestrial nitrogen (N) concentrations and N pools and whether the interactive effects of these drivers are mainly antagonistic, synergistic or additive. Location: Worldwide. Time period: Contemporary. Major taxa studied: Plants, soil, and soil microbes in terrestrial ecosystems. Methods: We synthesized data from manipulative field studies from 758 published articles to estimate the individual, combined and interactive effects of key environmental change drivers (elevated CO 2 , warming, N addition, phosphorus addition, increased rainfall and drought) on plant, soil, and soil microbe N concentrations and pools using meta-analyses. We assessed the influences of moderator variables on these effects through structural equation modelling. Results: We found that (a) N concentrations and N pools were significantly affected by the individual and combined effects of multiple drivers, with N addition (either alone or in combination with another driver) showing the strongest positive effects; (b) the individual and combined effects of these drivers differed significantly between N concentrations and N pools in plants, but seldom in soils and microbes; (c) additive effects of driver pairs on N concentrations and pools were much more common than synergistic or antagonistic effects across plants, soils and microbes; and (d) environmental and experimental factors were important moderators of the individual, combined and interactive effects of these drivers on terrestrial N. Main conclusions: Our results indicate that terrestrial N concentrations and N pools, especially those of plants, can be significantly affected by the individual and combined effects of environmental change drivers, with the interactive effects of these drivers being mostly additive. Our findings are important because they contribute to the development of models to better predict how altered N availability affects ecosystem carbon cycling under future environmental changes.

AB - Aim: We sought to understand how the individual and combined effects of multiple environmental change drivers differentially influence terrestrial nitrogen (N) concentrations and N pools and whether the interactive effects of these drivers are mainly antagonistic, synergistic or additive. Location: Worldwide. Time period: Contemporary. Major taxa studied: Plants, soil, and soil microbes in terrestrial ecosystems. Methods: We synthesized data from manipulative field studies from 758 published articles to estimate the individual, combined and interactive effects of key environmental change drivers (elevated CO 2 , warming, N addition, phosphorus addition, increased rainfall and drought) on plant, soil, and soil microbe N concentrations and pools using meta-analyses. We assessed the influences of moderator variables on these effects through structural equation modelling. Results: We found that (a) N concentrations and N pools were significantly affected by the individual and combined effects of multiple drivers, with N addition (either alone or in combination with another driver) showing the strongest positive effects; (b) the individual and combined effects of these drivers differed significantly between N concentrations and N pools in plants, but seldom in soils and microbes; (c) additive effects of driver pairs on N concentrations and pools were much more common than synergistic or antagonistic effects across plants, soils and microbes; and (d) environmental and experimental factors were important moderators of the individual, combined and interactive effects of these drivers on terrestrial N. Main conclusions: Our results indicate that terrestrial N concentrations and N pools, especially those of plants, can be significantly affected by the individual and combined effects of environmental change drivers, with the interactive effects of these drivers being mostly additive. Our findings are important because they contribute to the development of models to better predict how altered N availability affects ecosystem carbon cycling under future environmental changes.

KW - altered rainfall

KW - combined effects

KW - elevated CO

KW - individual effects

KW - interactive effects

KW - nitrogen addition

KW - phosphorus addition

KW - warming

U2 - 10.1111/geb.12884

DO - 10.1111/geb.12884

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85061259216

SN - 1466-822X

VL - 28

SP - 690

EP - 724

JO - Global Ecology and Biogeography

JF - Global Ecology and Biogeography

IS - 5

ER -