Journal ArticleDOI
Impact of nitrogen deposition on the species richness of grasslands
TLDR
A transect of 68 acid grasslands across Great Britain, covering the lower range of ambient annual nitrogen deposition in the industrialized world, indicates that long-term, chronic nitrogen deposition has significantly reduced plant species richness.Abstract:
A transect of 68 acid grasslands across Great Britain, covering the lower range of ambient annual nitrogen deposition in the industrialized world (5 to 35 kg Nha–1 year–1), indicates that long-term, chronic nitrogen deposition has significantly reduced plant species richness. Species richness declines as a linear function of the rate of inorganic nitrogen deposition, with a reduction of one species per 4-m2 quadrat for every 2.5 kg Nha–1 year–1 of chronic nitrogen deposition. Species adapted to infertile conditions are systematically reduced at high nitrogen deposition. At the mean chronic nitrogen deposition rate of central Europe (17 kg Nha–1 year–1), there is a 23% species reduction compared with grasslands receiving the lowest levels of nitrogen deposition.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Transformation of the Nitrogen Cycle: Recent Trends, Questions, and Potential Solutions
James N. Galloway,Alan R. Townsend,Jan Willem Erisman,Mateete A. Bekunda,Zucong Cai,J. R. Freney,Luiz Antonio Martinelli,Sybil P. Seitzinger,Mark A. Sutton +8 more
TL;DR: Optimizing the need for a key human resource while minimizing its negative consequences requires an integrated interdisciplinary approach and the development of strategies to decrease nitrogen-containing waste.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global assessment of nitrogen deposition effects on terrestrial plant diversity: a synthesis.
Roland Bobbink,Kevin Hicks,James N. Galloway,Till Spranger,Rob Alkemade,Mike Ashmore,Mercedes M. C. Bustamante,Steve Cinderby,Eric A. Davidson,Frank Dentener,Bridget A. Emmett,Jan Willem Erisman,Mark E. Fenn,Frank S. Gilliam,Annika Nordin,Linda H. Pardo,W. de Vries +16 more
TL;DR: Ecosystems thought of as not N limited, such as tropical and subtropical systems, may be more vulnerable in the regeneration phase, in situations where heterogeneity in N availability is reduced by atmospheric N deposition, on sandy soils, or in montane areas.
Journal ArticleDOI
Terrestrial phosphorus limitation: mechanisms, implications, and nitrogen–phosphorus interactions
TL;DR: It is suggested that depletion, soil barriers, and low-P parent material often cause ultimate limitation because they control the ecosystem mass balance of P and cause it to be an ultimate limiting nutrient.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nitrogen additions and microbial biomass: a meta-analysis of ecosystem studies
TL;DR: It is suggested that N enrichment could reduce microbial biomass in many ecosystems, with corresponding declines in soil CO2 emissions.
Ecological impacts of early 21st century agricultural change in Europe: a review. J Environ Manag
Chris Stoate,András Báldi,Pedro Beja,Nigel Boatman,Irina Herzon,A.M. van Doorn,G.R. de Snoo,László Rákosy,C. Ramwell +8 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide an overview of the ecological status of agricultural systems across the European Union in the light of recent policy changes, concluding that despite many adjustments to agricultural policy, intensification of production in some regions and concurrent abandonment in others remain the major threat to the ecology of agro-ecosystems impairing the state of soil, water and air and reducing biological diversity in agricultural landscapes.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Nitrogen limitation on land and in the sea: How can it occur?
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine both how the biogeochemistry of the nitrogen cycle could cause limitation to develop, and how nitrogen limitation could persist as a consequence of processes that prevent or reduce nitrogen fixation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global patterns in biodiversity
TL;DR: This work states that the distribution of biodiversity across the Earth can be described in terms of a relatively small number of broad-scale spatial patterns, and theory is developing rapidly, improving in its internal consistency, and more readily subjected to empirical challenge.
Journal ArticleDOI
The effects of air‐borne nitrogen pollutants on species diversity in natural and semi‐natural European vegetation
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of increased atmospheric nitrogen inputs, from both NOy and NHx, on diversity in various semi-natural and natural ecosystems are reviewed and the severity of these impacts depends on abiotic conditions (eg buffering capacity, soil nutrient status and soil factors that influence the nitrification potential and nitrogen immobilization rate) in the particular system.
Book
Perspectives on Plant Competition
James B. Grace,David Tilman +1 more
TL;DR: Twenty contributions focus on how plants compete, and on the consequences of their competition, particularly as it affects the structure and dynamics of plant communities.
Journal ArticleDOI
Influence of nitrogen loading and species composition on the carbon balance of grasslands
David A. Wedin,David Tilman +1 more
TL;DR: Grasslands with high N retention and C storage rates were the most vulnerable to species losses and major shifts in C and N cycling.