Journal ArticleDOI
Nitrogen limitation on land and in the sea: How can it occur?
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
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.Abstract:
The widespread occurrence of nitrogen limitation to net primary production in terrestrial and marine ecosystems is something of a puzzle; it would seem that nitrogen fixers should have a substantial competitive advantage wherever nitrogen is limiting, and that their activity in turn should reverse limitation. Nevertheless, there is substantial evidence that nitrogen limits net primary production much of the time in most terrestrial biomes and many marine ecosystems. We 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. Biogeochemical mechansism that favor nitrogen limitation include: A number of mechanisms could keep nitrogen fixation from reversing nitrogen limitation. These include: The possible importance of these and other processes is discussed for a wide range of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Human alteration of the global nitrogen cycle: sources and consequences
Peter M. Vitousek,John D. Aber,Robert W. Howarth,Gene E. Likens,Pamela A. Matson,David W. Schindler,William H. Schlesinger,David Tilman +7 more
TL;DR: In this article, a review of available scientific evidence shows that human alterations of the nitrogen cycle have approximately doubled the rate of nitrogen input into the terrestrial nitrogen cycle, with these rates still increasing; increased concentrations of the potent greenhouse gas N 2O globally, and increased concentration of other oxides of nitrogen that drive the formation of photochemical smog over large regions of Earth.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global analysis of nitrogen and phosphorus limitation of primary producers in freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
James J. Elser,Matthew E. S. Bracken,Elsa E. Cleland,Daniel S. Gruner,W. Stanley Harpole,Helmut Hillebrand,Jacqueline T. Ngai,Eric W. Seabloom,Jonathan B. Shurin,Jennifer E. Smith +9 more
TL;DR: A large-scale meta-analysis of experimental enrichments shows that P limitation is equally strong across these major habitats and that N and P limitation are equivalent within both terrestrial and freshwater systems.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biological invasions by exotic grasses, the grass/fire cycle, and global change
TL;DR: Biological invasions into wholly new regions are a consequence of a far reaching but underappreciated component of global environmental change, the human-caused breakdown of biogeographic barriers to species dispersal.
Book
Principles of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology
TL;DR: In this paper, the Ecosystem Concept is used to describe the Earth's Climate System and Geology and Soils, and the ecosystem concept is used for managing and sustaining ecosystems.
Journal ArticleDOI
Predicting changes in community composition and ecosystem functioning from plant traits: revisiting the Holy Grail
Sandra Lavorel,Eric Garnier +1 more
TL;DR: A framework using concepts and results from community ecology, ecosystem ecology and evolutionary biology to provide a linkage between traits associated with the response of plants to environmental factors and traits that determine effects of plants on ecosystem functions is presented.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics.
Book
Introduction to soil microbiology
TL;DR: In this paper, the biological processes that take place in the soil and their importance to soil fertility, plant growth, and environmental quality are investigated from both descriptive and functional viewpoints, including microbial ecology, the carbon and nitrogen cycles, mineral transformation, and ecological interrelationships.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nitrogen and Lignin Control of Hardwood Leaf Litter Decomposition Dynamics
TL;DR: The effects of initial nitrogen and lignin contents of six species of hardwood leaves on their decomposition dynamics were studied at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest by inverse linear relationships between the percentage of original mass remaining and the nitrogen concentration in the residual material.