1 Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China;
2 Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Impact of nitrogen addition on plant community in a semi-arid temperate steppe in China
1 Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China;
2 Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
摘要 Increased nitrogen (N) deposition will often lead to a decline in species richness in grassland ecosystems but the shifts in functional groups and plant traits are still poorly understood in China. A field experiment was conducted at Duolun, Inner Mongolia, China, to investigate the effects of N addition on a temperate steppe ecosystem. Six N levels (0, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 g N/(m2×a)) were added as three applications per year from 2005 to 2010. Enhanced N deposition, even as little as 3 g N/(m2×a) above ambient N deposition (1.2 g N/(m2×a)), led to a decline in species richness of the whole community. Increasing N addition can significantly stimulate aboveground biomass of perennial bunchgrasses (PB) but decrease perennial forbs (PF), and induce a slight change in the biomass of shrubs and semi-shrubs (SS). The biomass of annuals (AS) and perennial rhizome grasses (PR) accounts for only a small part of the total biomass. Species richness of PF decreased significantly with increasing N addition rate but there was a little change in the other functional groups. PB, as the dominant functional group, has a relatively higher height than others. Differences in the response of each functional group to N addition have site-specific and species-specific characteristics. We initially infer that N enrichment stimulated the growth of PB, which further suppressed the growth of other functional groups.
Abstract: Increased nitrogen (N) deposition will often lead to a decline in species richness in grassland ecosystems but the shifts in functional groups and plant traits are still poorly understood in China. A field experiment was conducted at Duolun, Inner Mongolia, China, to investigate the effects of N addition on a temperate steppe ecosystem. Six N levels (0, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 g N/(m2×a)) were added as three applications per year from 2005 to 2010. Enhanced N deposition, even as little as 3 g N/(m2×a) above ambient N deposition (1.2 g N/(m2×a)), led to a decline in species richness of the whole community. Increasing N addition can significantly stimulate aboveground biomass of perennial bunchgrasses (PB) but decrease perennial forbs (PF), and induce a slight change in the biomass of shrubs and semi-shrubs (SS). The biomass of annuals (AS) and perennial rhizome grasses (PR) accounts for only a small part of the total biomass. Species richness of PF decreased significantly with increasing N addition rate but there was a little change in the other functional groups. PB, as the dominant functional group, has a relatively higher height than others. Differences in the response of each functional group to N addition have site-specific and species-specific characteristics. We initially infer that N enrichment stimulated the growth of PB, which further suppressed the growth of other functional groups.
The One Hundred Person Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40771188, 41071151), the Innovative Group Grants from NSFC (30821003) and the Sino-German project (DFG Research Training Group, GK1070).
通讯作者:
XueJun LIU
E-mail: E-mail: liu310@cau.edu.cn
引用本文:
Ling SONG, XueMei BAO, XueJun LIU, FuSuo ZHANG. Impact of nitrogen addition on plant community in a semi-arid temperate steppe in China[J]. 干旱区科学, 2012, 4(1): 3-10.
Ling SONG, XueMei BAO, XueJun LIU, FuSuo ZHANG. Impact of nitrogen addition on plant community in a semi-arid temperate steppe in China. Journal of Arid Land, 2012, 4(1): 3-10.
altering the nitrogen status of northeastern forests? Bioscience, 53(4): 375–389.Bai Y, Wu J, Clark C M, et al. 2010. Tradeoffs and thresholds in the effects of nitrogen addition on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: evidence from Inner Mongolia grasslands. Global Change Biology, 16(1): 358–372.Bobbink R, Ashmore M, Braun S, et al. 2003. Empirical nitrogen critical loads for natural and semi-natural ecosystems: 2002 update. In: Achermann B, Bobbink R. Empirical Critical Loads for Nitrogen. Berne: Swiss Agency for Environment, Forest and Landscape SAEFL, 43–170.Bobbink R. 2004. Plant species richness and the exceedance of empirical nitrogen critical loads: an inventory. Bilthoven, Utrecht University/RIVM. Report Landscape Ecology.Bobbink R, Hicks K, Galloway J, et al. 2010. Global assessment of nitrogen deposition effects on terrestrial plant diversity: a synthesis. Ecological Applications, 20(1): 30–59.Britton A J, Fisher J M. 2007. Interactive effects of nitrogen deposition, fire and grazing on diversity and composition of low-alpine prostrate Calluna vulgaris heathland. Journal of Applied Ecology, 44(1): 125–135.Chen Q, Hooper D U, Lin S. 2011. Shifts in species composition constrain restoration of overgrazed grassland using nitrogen fertilization in Inner Mongolian steppe, China. PLoS ONE, 6(3): e16909. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016909.Clark C M, Tilman D. 2008. Loss of plant species after chronic low-level nitrogen deposition to prairie grasslands. Nature, 451: 712–715.Dupre C, Stevens C J, Ranke T, et al. 2010. Changes in species richness and composition in European acidic grasslands over the past 70 years: the contribution of cumulative atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Global Change Biology, 16(1): 344–357.Emmett B A. 2007. Nitrogen saturation of terrestrial ecosystems: some recent findings and their implications for our conceptual framework. Water, Air and Soil Pollution: Focus, 7(1–3): 99–109.Hautier Y, Niklaus P A, Hector A. 2009. Competition for light causes plant biodiversity loss after eutrophication. Science, 324(5927): 636–638.He C E, Liu X J, Christie P, et al. 2010. Estimating total nitrogen deposition in agroecosys-tems in northern China during the wheat cropping season, 2(1): 2–8.Jones D L, Kielland K. 2002. Soil amino acid turnover dominates the nitrogen flux in permafrost-dominated taiga forest soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 34(2): 209–219.Liu X J, Duan L, Mo J M, et al. 2011. Nitrogen deposition and its ecologyical impact in China: an overview. Environmental Pollution, 159(10): 2251–2264.Lu M, Yang Y H, Luo Y Q, et al. 2011. Responses of ecosystem nitrogen cycle to nitrogen addition: a meta-analysis. New Phytologist, 189(4): 1040–1050.Matson P, Lohse K A, Hall S J. 2002. The globalization of nitrogen deposition: consequences for terrestrial ecosystems. Ambio, 31(2): 113–119.NADP (National Atmospheric Deposition Program), 2000. National Atmospheric Deposition Program Annual Data Summary: Precipitation Chemistry in the United States. NADP Program Office, Illinois State Water Survey, University of Illinois, Champaign.Nilsson M C, Wardle D A, Zackrisson O, et al. 2002. Effects of alleviation of ecological stresses on an alpine tundra community over an eight-year period. Oikos, 97(1): 3–17.Niu S L, Wu M Y, Han Y, et al. 2010. Nitrogen effects on net ecosystem carbon exchange in a temperate steppe. Global Change Biology, 16(1): 144–155.Roem W J, Berendse F. 2000. Soil acidity and nutrient supply ratio as possible factors determining changes in plant species diversity in grassland and heathland communities. Biological Conservation, 92(2): 151–161.Shen J L, Tang A H, Liu X J, et al. 2009. High concentrations and dry deposition of reactive nitrogen species at two sites in the North China Plain. Environmental Pollution, 157(11): 3106–3113.Song L, Bao X M, Liu X J, et al. 2011. Nitrogen enrichment enhances the dominance of grasses over forbs in a temperate steppe ecosystem. Biogeosciences, 8: 2341–2350.Soudzilovskaia N A, Onipchenko V G, Cornelissen J H C, et al. 2005. Biomass production, N:P ratio and nutrient limitation in a Caucasian alpine tundra plant community. Journal of Vegetation Science, 16(4): 399–406.Stevens C J, Dise N B, Mountford J O, et al. 2004. Impact of nitrogen deposition on the species richness of grasslands. Science, 303(5665): 1876–1879.Stevens C J, Dise N B, Gowing D J G, et al. 2006. Loss of forb diversity in relation to nitrogen deposition in the UK: regional trends and potential controls. Global Change Biology, 12(10): 1823–1833.Xia J Y, Wan S Q. 2008. Global response patterns of terrestrial plant species to nitrogen addition. New Phytologist, 179(2): 428–439.Zhang Y, Liu X J, Fangmeier A, et al. 2008. Nitrogen inputs and isotopes in precipitation in the North China Plain. Atmospheric Environment, 42(7): 1436–1448.
2012, Vol. 4 
