Published

CDR Experiment E002 – Long-Term Nitrogen Addition to Disturbed Vegetation.
Credit: Jacob Miller

Chronic N addition reduced plant species richness and led to the local extinction of species with efficient N use. Species richness returned to its original level after ceasing the addition of low levels of N. These changes in composition were readily reversed after low levels of N were no longer added. However, species richness did not recover two decades after ceasing the addition of high levels of N. Network-wide synthesis projects are testing how applicable this observation may be across different ecosystem types.

 

Learn more

  1. Clark, CM and D. Tilman. 2008. Loss of plant species diversity after chronic low-level nitrogen deposition to prairie grasslands. Nature. doi: 10.1038/nature06503
  2. Isbell, F et al. 2013a. Nutrient enrichment, biodiversity loss, and consequent declines in ecosystem productivity. PNAS. doi: 10.1073/ pnas.1310880110
  3. Isbell, F et al. 2013b. Low biodiversity state persists two decades after cessation of nutrient enrichment. Ecology Letters. doi: 10.1111/ ele.12066

Contact

Forest Isbel
isbell@umn.edu

Posted:  July 15, 2020