Decadal soil warming decreased vascular plant above and below ground production in a subarctic grassland by inducing nitrogen limitation

Below and aboveground vegetation dynamics are crucial in understanding how climate warming may affect terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycling. In contrast to aboveground biomass, the response of belowground biomass to long-term warming has been poorly studied. - Here, we characterized the impacts of de...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fang, Chao|||0000-0002-7615-3367, Verbrigghe, Niel|||0000-0002-8326-8074, Sigurdsson, Bjarni D.|||0000-0002-4784-5233, Ostonen, Ivika|||0000-0001-9043-6083, Leblans, Niki I. W., Marañón Jiménez, Sara|||0000-0001-9786-3977, Fuchslueger, Lucia|||0000-0002-9615-4439, Sigurðsson, Páll, Meeran, Kathiravan, Portillo-Estrada, Miguel|||0000-0002-0348-7446, Verbruggen, Erik|||0000-0001-7015-1515, Richter, Andreas|||0000-0003-3282-4808, Sardans i Galobart, Jordi|||0000-0003-2478-0219, Peñuelas, Josep|||0000-0002-7215-0150, Bahn, Michael|||0000-0001-7482-9776, Vicca, Sara|||0000-0001-9812-5837, Janssens, Ivan|||0000-0002-5705-1787
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:284316
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/284316
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1111/nph.19177
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Biomass distribution
Grasses
Nitrogen limitation
Temperature increase
Vascular plants
Descripción
Sumario:Below and aboveground vegetation dynamics are crucial in understanding how climate warming may affect terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycling. In contrast to aboveground biomass, the response of belowground biomass to long-term warming has been poorly studied. - Here, we characterized the impacts of decadal geothermal warming at two levels (on average +3.3°C and +7.9°C) on below and aboveground plant biomass stocks and production in a subarctic grassland. - Soil warming did not change standing root biomass and even decreased fine root production and reduced aboveground biomass and production. Decadal soil warming also did not significantly alter the root-shoot ratio. The linear stepwise regression model suggested that following 10 yr of soil warming, temperature was no longer the direct driver of these responses, but losses of soil N were. Soil N losses, due to warming-induced decreases in organic matter and water retention capacity, were identified as key driver of the decreased above and belowground production. The reduction in fine root production was accompanied by thinner roots with increased specific root area. - These results indicate that after a decade of soil warming, plant productivity in the studied subarctic grassland was affected by soil warming mainly by the reduction in soil N.