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Article Dans Une Revue Functional Ecology Année : 2017

Mowing exacerbates the loss of ecosystem stability under nitrogen enrichment in a temperate grassland

Résumé

Global reactive nitrogen (N) is projected to further increase in the coming years. Previous studies have demonstrated that N enrichment weakens the temporal stability of ecosystem primary productivity through decreased biodiversity and species asynchrony. Mowing is a globally common practice in grasslands; and infrequent mowing can maintain or increase plant diversity under N enrichment conditions. However, it is unclear how infrequent mowing affects ecosystem stability in the face of N enrichment. 2.By independently manipulating the frequency (twice vs. monthly additions yr−1) and rate (i.e., 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 50 g N m−2 yr−1) of NH4NO3 inputs and mowing (unmown vs. mown) over three years (2011–2013) in a temperate grassland of northern China, we aimed to examine the interactive effects of N enrichment and mowing on ecosystem stability. 3.The results show that mowing maintained a positive relationship between species richness and ecosystem stability despite N addition but that it exacerbated the negative effects of N addition on ecosystem stability. Mowing increased mean primary productivity and plant species richness, but it also increased the synchrony of population fluctuations and the variability of primary productivity under N enrichment, thereby contributing to a decline in ecosystem stability. 4.Thus, our study reveals that infrequent mowing can buffer the negative effects of N enrichment on biodiversity to some extent and further increase primary productivity but it exacerbates the loss of ecosystem stability with N enrichment, thereby threatening local and/or semiarid regional food security. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Dates et versions

hal-02978718 , version 1 (26-10-2020)

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Yunhai Zhang, Michel Loreau, Nianpeng He, Guangming Zhang, Xingguo Han. Mowing exacerbates the loss of ecosystem stability under nitrogen enrichment in a temperate grassland. Functional Ecology, 2017, 31 (8), pp.1637-1646. ⟨10.1111/1365-2435.12850⟩. ⟨hal-02978718⟩
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