@article {KNZ001893, title = {Out of the shadows: multiple nutrient limitations drive relationships among biomass, light and plant diversity}, journal = {Functional Ecology}, volume = {31}, year = {2017}, pages = {1839-1846}, abstract = {
  1. The paradigmatic hypothesis for the effect of fertilisation on plant diversity represents a one-dimensional trade-off for plants competing for below-ground nutrients (generically) and above-ground light: fertilisation reduces competition for nutrients while increasing biomass and thereby shifts competition for depleted available light.
  2. The essential problem of this simple paradigm is that it misses both the multivariate and mechanistic nature of the factors that determine biodiversity as well as their causal relationships.
  3. We agree that light limitation, as DeMalach and Kadmon argue, can indeed be an important factor associated with diversity loss, and we presented it as an integral part of our tests of the niche dimension hypothesis.
  4. We disagree with DeMalach and Kadmon that light is the \‘main\’ factor explaining diversity, because this misrepresents the causal structure represented in the design of our experiment in which multiple nutrient addition was the ultimate causal driver of a suite of correlated responses that included diversity and light, and especially live and dead biomass, which are the factors that control light depletion.
  5. Our findings highlight that multiple nutrient limitations can structure plant diversity and composition independently of changes in light and biomass. For example, approximately one-third of our sites showed no significant increase in biomass with greater number of added nutrients yet still lost diversity when nutrients were added.
  6. The important message is that while light limitation can be an important contributor to diversity loss, it is not a necessary mechanism.
}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1111/1365-2435.12967}, url = {https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2435.12967}, author = {Harpole, W. Stanley and L.L. Sullivan and Lind, Eric M. and Firn, Jennifer and P. Adler and E.T. Borer and Chase, Jonathan and Fay, Philip A. and Hautier, Yann and Hillebrand, Helmut and MacDougall, Andrew S. and Seabloom, Eric W. and Bakker, Jonathan D. and Cadotte, Marc W. and Chaneton, Enrique J. and Chu, Chengjin and Hagenah, Nicole and Kirkman, Kevin and Kimberly J. La Pierre and Joslin L. Moore and J.W. Morgan and Prober, Suzanne M. and Risch, Anita C. and Schuetz, Martin and Stevens, Carly J.}, editor = {Thompson, Ken} } @article {KNZ001755, title = {Addition of multiple limiting resources reduces grassland diversity}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {537}, year = {2016}, pages = {93-96}, abstract = {

Niche dimensionality provides a general theoretical explanation for biodiversity\—more niches, defined by more limiting factors, allow for more ways that species can coexist1. Because plant species compete for the same set of limiting resources, theory predicts that addition of a limiting resource eliminates potential trade-offs, reducing the number of species that can coexist2. Multiple nutrient limitation of plant production is common and therefore fertilization may reduce diversity by reducing the number or dimensionality of belowground limiting factors. At the same time, nutrient addition, by increasing biomass, should ultimately shift competition from belowground nutrients towards a one-dimensional competitive trade-off for light3. Here we show that plant species diversity decreased when a greater number of limiting nutrients were added across 45 grassland sites from a multi-continent experimental network4. The number of added nutrients predicted diversity loss, even after controlling for effects of plant biomass, and even where biomass production was not nutrient-limited. We found that elevated resource supply reduced niche dimensionality and diversity and increased both productivity5 and compositional turnover. Our results point to the importance of understanding dimensionality in ecological systems that are undergoing diversity loss in response to multiple global change factors.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1038/nature19324}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19324}, author = {Harpole, W. S. and L.L. Sullivan and Lind, E.M. and Firn, J. and P. Adler and E.T. Borer and Chase, J. and Fay, P.A. and Hautier, Y. and Hillebrand, H. and MacDougall, A.S. and Seabloom, E.W. and Williams, R. and J.D. Bakker and Cadotte, M.W. and Chaneton, E.J. and Chu, C. and Cleland, E.E. and Antonio, C. and Davies, K.F. and Gruner, D.S. and Hagenah, N. and Kirkman, K. and Knops, J.M.H. and Kimberly J. La Pierre and McCulley, R.L. and Joslin L. Moore and J.W. Morgan and Prober, S.M. and A. Risch and Schuetz, M. and Stevens, C.J. and Wragg, P.D.} } @article {KNZ001747, title = {Climate modifies response of non-native and native species richness to nutrient enrichment}, journal = {Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}, volume = {3719371}, year = {2016}, pages = {20150273}, abstract = {

Ecosystem eutrophication often increases domination by non-natives and causes displacement of native taxa. However, variation in environmental conditions may affect the outcome of interactions between native and non-native taxa in environments where nutrient supply is elevated. We examined the interactive effects of eutrophication, climate variability and climate average conditions on the success of native and non-native plant species using experimental nutrient manipulations replicated at 32 grassland sites on four continents. We hypothesized that effects of nutrient addition would be greatest where climate was stable and benign, owing to reduced niche partitioning. We found that the abundance of non-native species increased with nutrient addition independent of climate; however, nutrient addition increased non-native species richness and decreased native species richness, with these effects dampened in warmer or wetter sites. Eutrophication also altered the time scale in which grassland invasion responded to climate, decreasing the importance of long-term climate and increasing that of annual climate. Thus, climatic conditions mediate the responses of native and non-native flora to nutrient enrichment. Our results suggest that the negative effect of nutrient addition on native abundance is decoupled from its effect on richness, and reduces the time scale of the links between climate and compositional change.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, issn = {0962-8436}, doi = {10.1098/rstb.2015.0273}, url = {https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2015.0273}, author = {Flores-Moreno, H. and P.B. Reich and Lind, E.M. and L.L. Sullivan and Seabloom, E.W. and Yahdjian, L. and MacDougall, A.S. and Reichmann, L.G. and J. Alberti and B{\'a}ez, S. and J.D. Bakker and Cadotte, M.W. and Caldeira, M.C. and Chaneton, E.J. and D{\textquoteright}Antonio, C.M. and Fay, P.A. and Firn, J. and Hagenah, N. and Harpole, W. S. and Iribarne, O. and Kirkman, K.P. and Knops, J.M. H. and Kimberly J. La Pierre and Laungani, R. and Leakey, A.D. B. and McCulley, R.L. and Joslin L. Moore and Pascual, J. and E.T. Borer} } @article {KNZ001793, title = {Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {508}, year = {2014}, pages = {517 - 520}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1038/nature13144}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/nature13144}, author = {E.T. Borer and Seabloom, E.W. and Gruner, D.S. and Harpole, W.S and Hillebrand, H. and Lind, E.M. and P. Adler and J. Alberti and Anderson, T.M. and J.D. Bakker and L.A. Biederman and D.M. Blumenthal and C.S. Brown and Brudvig, L.A. and Buckley, Y.M. and Cadotte, M. and Chu, C. and Cleland, E.E. and Crawley, M.J. and Daleo, P. and Damschen, E.I. and Davies, K.F. and DeCrappeo, N.M. and G. Du and Firn, J. and Hautier, Y. and Heckman, R.W. and Hector, A. and HilleRisLambers, J. and Iribarne, Oscar and Klein, J.A. and Knops, J.M.H. and Kimberly J. La Pierre and Leakey, A.D.B. and Li, W. and MacDougall, A.S. and McCulley, R.L. and Melbourne, B.A. and Mitchell, C.E. and Joslin L. Moore and Mortensen, B. and O{\textquoteright}Halloran, L.R. and Orrock, J.L. and Pascual, J. and Prober, S.M. and Pyke, D.A. and A. Risch and Schuetz, M. and M.D. Smith and Stevens, C.J. and L.L. Sullivan and Williams, R.J. and Wragg, P.D. and Wright, J.P. and Yang, L.H.} }