Global impacts of fertilization and herbivore removal on soil net nitrogen mineralization are modulated by local climate and soil properties

Anita C. Risch; Stefan Zimmermann; Barbara Moser; Martin Schütz; Frank Hagedorn; Jennifer Firn; Philip A. Fay; Peter B. Adler; Lori A. Biederman; John M. Blair; Elizabeth T. Borer; Arthur A.D. Broadbent; Cynthia S. Brown; Marc W. Cadotte; Maria C. Caldeira; Kendi F. Davies; Augustina di Virgilio; Nico Eisenhauer; Anu Eskelinen; Johannes M.H. Knops; Andrew S. MacDougall; Rebecca L. McCulley; Brett A. Melbourne; Joslin L. Moore; Sally A. Power; Suzanne M. Prober; Eric W. Seabloom; Julia Siebert; Maria L. Silveira; Karina L. Speziale; Carly J. Stevens; Pedro M. Tognetti; Risto Virtanen; Laura Yahdjian; Raul Ochoa-Hueso

doi:10.1111/gcb.15308

Global impacts of fertilization and herbivore removal on soil net nitrogen mineralization are modulated by local climate and soil properties

Anita C. Risch, Stefan Zimmermann, Barbara Moser, Martin Schütz, Frank Hagedorn, Jennifer Firn, Philip A. Fay, Peter B. Adler, Lori A. Biederman, John M. Blair, Elizabeth T. Borer, Arthur A.D. Broadbent, Cynthia S. Brown, Marc W. Cadotte, Maria C. Caldeira, Kendi F. Davies, Augustina di Virgilio, Nico Eisenhauer, Anu Eskelinen, Johannes M.H. KnopsAndrew S. MacDougall, Rebecca L. McCulley, Brett A. Melbourne, Joslin L. Moore, Sally A. Power, Suzanne M. Prober, Eric W. Seabloom, Julia Siebert, Maria L. Silveira, Karina L. Speziale, Carly J. Stevens, Pedro M. Tognetti, Risto Virtanen, Laura Yahdjian, Raul Ochoa-Hueso

Plant and Soil Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

Soil nitrogen (N) availability is critical for grassland functioning. However, human activities have increased the supply of biologically limiting nutrients, and changed the density and identity of mammalian herbivores. These anthropogenic changes may alter net soil N mineralization (soil net N_min), that is, the net balance between N mineralization and immobilization, which could severely impact grassland structure and functioning. Yet, to date, little is known about how fertilization and herbivore removal individually, or jointly, affect soil net N_min across a wide range of grasslands that vary in soil and climatic properties. Here we collected data from 22 grasslands on five continents, all part of a globally replicated experiment, to assess how fertilization and herbivore removal affected potential (laboratory-based) and realized (field-based) soil net N_min. Herbivore removal in the absence of fertilization did not alter potential and realized soil net N_min. However, fertilization alone and in combination with herbivore removal consistently increased potential soil net N_min. Realized soil net N_min, in contrast, significantly decreased in fertilized plots where herbivores were removed. Treatment effects on potential and realized soil net N_min were contingent on site-specific soil and climatic properties. Fertilization effects on potential soil net N_min were larger at sites with higher mean annual precipitation (MAP) and temperature of the wettest quarter (T.q.wet). Reciprocally, realized soil net N_min declined most strongly with fertilization and herbivore removal at sites with lower MAP and higher T.q.wet. In summary, our findings show that anthropogenic nutrient enrichment, herbivore exclusion and alterations in future climatic conditions can negatively impact soil net N_min across global grasslands under realistic field conditions. This is an important context-dependent knowledge for grassland management worldwide.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	7173-7185
Number of pages	13
Journal	Global Change Biology
Volume	26
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15308
State	Published - Dec 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Funding

This work was conducted within the Nutrient Network ( http://www.nutnet.org ) experiment, funded at the site‐scale by individual researchers. The soil net N study was funded by an internal competitive WSL grant to A.C.R., B.M., M.S., S.Z., and F.H. Coordination and data management have been supported by funding from the National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (NSF‐DEB‐1042132) to E.T.B. and E.W.S., and from the Long‐Term Ecological Research (LTER) program (NSF‐DEB‐1234162 to the Institute on the Environment as other LTER sites), and the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota (DG‐0001‐13). We also thank the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute for hosting project data, and the Institute on the Environment for hosting Network meetings. We are grateful to Roger Köchli and Simon Baumgartner for their help with sample processing and analyses. N.E. and J.S. acknowledge support by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle–Jena–Leipzig, funded by the German Research Foundation (FZT 118). S.M.P. thanks Georg Wiehl for field assistance and Denise and Malcolm French for access to their property at Mt. Caroline. The Mt. Caroline site was supported through the TERN Great Western Woodlands Supersite. M.C.C. thanks the CEF (UIDB/00239/2020, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia I.P., Portugal) for support. P.A.F. was supported by in‐house funding from USDA‐ARS. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Comments by two anonymous reviewers greatly helped us to improve our manuscript. min This work was conducted within the Nutrient Network (http://www.nutnet.org) experiment, funded at the site-scale by individual researchers. The soil net Nmin study was funded by an internal competitive WSL grant to A.C.R., B.M., M.S., S.Z., and F.H. Coordination and data management have been supported by funding from the National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (NSF-DEB-1042132) to E.T.B. and E.W.S., and from the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program (NSF-DEB-1234162 to the Institute on the Environment as other LTER sites), and the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota (DG-0001-13). We also thank the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute for hosting project data, and the Institute on the Environment for hosting Network meetings. We are grateful to Roger K?chli and Simon Baumgartner for their help with sample processing and analyses. N.E. and J.S. acknowledge support by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle?Jena?Leipzig, funded by the German Research Foundation (FZT 118). S.M.P. thanks Georg Wiehl for field assistance and Denise and Malcolm French for access to their property at Mt. Caroline. The Mt. Caroline site was supported through the TERN Great Western Woodlands Supersite. M.C.C. thanks the CEF (UIDB/00239/2020, Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e Tecnologia I.P., Portugal) for support. P.A.F. was supported by in-house funding from USDA-ARS. USDA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Comments by two anonymous reviewers greatly helped us to improve our manuscript.

Funders	Funder number
Ci?ncia e Tecnologia
Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia I.P.
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research iDiv. Halle-Jena-Leipzig
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research iDiv. Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment
Long-Term Ecological Research
Long-Term Ecological Research	NSF‐DEB‐1234162
National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network	NSF-DEB-1042132
TERN Great Western Woodlands Supersite
USDA-ARS
National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program	NSF‐DEB‐1042132
National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Minnesota State University-Mankato	DG‐0001‐13
Minnesota State University-Mankato
USDA-Agricultural Research Service
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft	UIDB/00239/2020, FZT 118
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Keywords

NutNet
anthropogenic change
global grasslands
grazers
nitrogen
phosphorus
potassium
potential and realized soil net nitrogen mineralization
precipitation
temperature

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Global and Planetary Change
Environmental Chemistry
Ecology
General Environmental Science

Access to Document

10.1111/gcb.15308

Cite this

Risch, A. C., Zimmermann, S., Moser, B., Schütz, M., Hagedorn, F., Firn, J., Fay, P. A., Adler, P. B., Biederman, L. A., Blair, J. M., Borer, E. T., Broadbent, A. A. D., Brown, C. S., Cadotte, M. W., Caldeira, M. C., Davies, K. F., di Virgilio, A., Eisenhauer, N., Eskelinen, A., ... Ochoa-Hueso, R. (2020). Global impacts of fertilization and herbivore removal on soil net nitrogen mineralization are modulated by local climate and soil properties. Global Change Biology, 26(12), 7173-7185. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15308

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title = "Global impacts of fertilization and herbivore removal on soil net nitrogen mineralization are modulated by local climate and soil properties",

abstract = "Soil nitrogen (N) availability is critical for grassland functioning. However, human activities have increased the supply of biologically limiting nutrients, and changed the density and identity of mammalian herbivores. These anthropogenic changes may alter net soil N mineralization (soil net Nmin), that is, the net balance between N mineralization and immobilization, which could severely impact grassland structure and functioning. Yet, to date, little is known about how fertilization and herbivore removal individually, or jointly, affect soil net Nmin across a wide range of grasslands that vary in soil and climatic properties. Here we collected data from 22 grasslands on five continents, all part of a globally replicated experiment, to assess how fertilization and herbivore removal affected potential (laboratory-based) and realized (field-based) soil net Nmin. Herbivore removal in the absence of fertilization did not alter potential and realized soil net Nmin. However, fertilization alone and in combination with herbivore removal consistently increased potential soil net Nmin. Realized soil net Nmin, in contrast, significantly decreased in fertilized plots where herbivores were removed. Treatment effects on potential and realized soil net Nmin were contingent on site-specific soil and climatic properties. Fertilization effects on potential soil net Nmin were larger at sites with higher mean annual precipitation (MAP) and temperature of the wettest quarter (T.q.wet). Reciprocally, realized soil net Nmin declined most strongly with fertilization and herbivore removal at sites with lower MAP and higher T.q.wet. In summary, our findings show that anthropogenic nutrient enrichment, herbivore exclusion and alterations in future climatic conditions can negatively impact soil net Nmin across global grasslands under realistic field conditions. This is an important context-dependent knowledge for grassland management worldwide.",

keywords = "NutNet, anthropogenic change, global grasslands, grazers, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, potential and realized soil net nitrogen mineralization, precipitation, temperature",

author = "Risch, {Anita C.} and Stefan Zimmermann and Barbara Moser and Martin Sch{\"u}tz and Frank Hagedorn and Jennifer Firn and Fay, {Philip A.} and Adler, {Peter B.} and Biederman, {Lori A.} and Blair, {John M.} and Borer, {Elizabeth T.} and Broadbent, {Arthur A.D.} and Brown, {Cynthia S.} and Cadotte, {Marc W.} and Caldeira, {Maria C.} and Davies, {Kendi F.} and {di Virgilio}, Augustina and Nico Eisenhauer and Anu Eskelinen and Knops, {Johannes M.H.} and MacDougall, {Andrew S.} and McCulley, {Rebecca L.} and Melbourne, {Brett A.} and Moore, {Joslin L.} and Power, {Sally A.} and Prober, {Suzanne M.} and Seabloom, {Eric W.} and Julia Siebert and Silveira, {Maria L.} and Speziale, {Karina L.} and Stevens, {Carly J.} and Tognetti, {Pedro M.} and Risto Virtanen and Laura Yahdjian and Raul Ochoa-Hueso",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd",

year = "2020",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1111/gcb.15308",

language = "English",

volume = "26",

pages = "7173--7185",

number = "12",

}

Risch, AC, Zimmermann, S, Moser, B, Schütz, M, Hagedorn, F, Firn, J, Fay, PA, Adler, PB, Biederman, LA, Blair, JM, Borer, ET, Broadbent, AAD, Brown, CS, Cadotte, MW, Caldeira, MC, Davies, KF, di Virgilio, A, Eisenhauer, N, Eskelinen, A, Knops, JMH, MacDougall, AS, McCulley, RL, Melbourne, BA, Moore, JL, Power, SA, Prober, SM, Seabloom, EW, Siebert, J, Silveira, ML, Speziale, KL, Stevens, CJ, Tognetti, PM, Virtanen, R, Yahdjian, L & Ochoa-Hueso, R 2020, 'Global impacts of fertilization and herbivore removal on soil net nitrogen mineralization are modulated by local climate and soil properties', Global Change Biology, vol. 26, no. 12, pp. 7173-7185. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15308

TY - JOUR

T1 - Global impacts of fertilization and herbivore removal on soil net nitrogen mineralization are modulated by local climate and soil properties

AU - Risch, Anita C.

AU - Zimmermann, Stefan

AU - Moser, Barbara

AU - Schütz, Martin

AU - Hagedorn, Frank

AU - Firn, Jennifer

AU - Fay, Philip A.

AU - Adler, Peter B.

AU - Biederman, Lori A.

AU - Blair, John M.

AU - Borer, Elizabeth T.

AU - Broadbent, Arthur A.D.

AU - Brown, Cynthia S.

AU - Cadotte, Marc W.

AU - Caldeira, Maria C.

AU - Davies, Kendi F.

AU - di Virgilio, Augustina

AU - Eisenhauer, Nico

AU - Eskelinen, Anu

AU - Knops, Johannes M.H.

AU - MacDougall, Andrew S.

AU - McCulley, Rebecca L.

AU - Melbourne, Brett A.

AU - Moore, Joslin L.

AU - Power, Sally A.

AU - Prober, Suzanne M.

AU - Seabloom, Eric W.

AU - Siebert, Julia

AU - Silveira, Maria L.

AU - Speziale, Karina L.

AU - Stevens, Carly J.

AU - Tognetti, Pedro M.

AU - Virtanen, Risto

AU - Yahdjian, Laura

AU - Ochoa-Hueso, Raul

PY - 2020/12

Y1 - 2020/12

N2 - Soil nitrogen (N) availability is critical for grassland functioning. However, human activities have increased the supply of biologically limiting nutrients, and changed the density and identity of mammalian herbivores. These anthropogenic changes may alter net soil N mineralization (soil net Nmin), that is, the net balance between N mineralization and immobilization, which could severely impact grassland structure and functioning. Yet, to date, little is known about how fertilization and herbivore removal individually, or jointly, affect soil net Nmin across a wide range of grasslands that vary in soil and climatic properties. Here we collected data from 22 grasslands on five continents, all part of a globally replicated experiment, to assess how fertilization and herbivore removal affected potential (laboratory-based) and realized (field-based) soil net Nmin. Herbivore removal in the absence of fertilization did not alter potential and realized soil net Nmin. However, fertilization alone and in combination with herbivore removal consistently increased potential soil net Nmin. Realized soil net Nmin, in contrast, significantly decreased in fertilized plots where herbivores were removed. Treatment effects on potential and realized soil net Nmin were contingent on site-specific soil and climatic properties. Fertilization effects on potential soil net Nmin were larger at sites with higher mean annual precipitation (MAP) and temperature of the wettest quarter (T.q.wet). Reciprocally, realized soil net Nmin declined most strongly with fertilization and herbivore removal at sites with lower MAP and higher T.q.wet. In summary, our findings show that anthropogenic nutrient enrichment, herbivore exclusion and alterations in future climatic conditions can negatively impact soil net Nmin across global grasslands under realistic field conditions. This is an important context-dependent knowledge for grassland management worldwide.

AB - Soil nitrogen (N) availability is critical for grassland functioning. However, human activities have increased the supply of biologically limiting nutrients, and changed the density and identity of mammalian herbivores. These anthropogenic changes may alter net soil N mineralization (soil net Nmin), that is, the net balance between N mineralization and immobilization, which could severely impact grassland structure and functioning. Yet, to date, little is known about how fertilization and herbivore removal individually, or jointly, affect soil net Nmin across a wide range of grasslands that vary in soil and climatic properties. Here we collected data from 22 grasslands on five continents, all part of a globally replicated experiment, to assess how fertilization and herbivore removal affected potential (laboratory-based) and realized (field-based) soil net Nmin. Herbivore removal in the absence of fertilization did not alter potential and realized soil net Nmin. However, fertilization alone and in combination with herbivore removal consistently increased potential soil net Nmin. Realized soil net Nmin, in contrast, significantly decreased in fertilized plots where herbivores were removed. Treatment effects on potential and realized soil net Nmin were contingent on site-specific soil and climatic properties. Fertilization effects on potential soil net Nmin were larger at sites with higher mean annual precipitation (MAP) and temperature of the wettest quarter (T.q.wet). Reciprocally, realized soil net Nmin declined most strongly with fertilization and herbivore removal at sites with lower MAP and higher T.q.wet. In summary, our findings show that anthropogenic nutrient enrichment, herbivore exclusion and alterations in future climatic conditions can negatively impact soil net Nmin across global grasslands under realistic field conditions. This is an important context-dependent knowledge for grassland management worldwide.

KW - NutNet

KW - anthropogenic change

KW - global grasslands

KW - grazers

KW - nitrogen

KW - phosphorus

KW - potassium

KW - potential and realized soil net nitrogen mineralization

KW - precipitation

KW - temperature

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JO - Global Change Biology

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IS - 12

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Global impacts of fertilization and herbivore removal on soil net nitrogen mineralization are modulated by local climate and soil properties

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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