Global patterns of terrestrial nitrogen and phosphorus limitation

Du, Enzai; Terrer, César; Pellegrini, Adam F.  A.; Ahlström, Anders; van Lissa, Caspar J.; Zhao, Xia; Xia, Nan; Wu, Xinhui; Jackson, Robert B.

doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0530-4

Global patterns of terrestrial nitrogen and phosphorus limitation

Journal Article · Mon Feb 10 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Nature Geoscience

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0530-4· OSTI ID:1615892

^[1]; ^[2]; Pellegrini, Adam F. A. ^[3]; ^[4]; van Lissa, Caspar J. ^[5]; Zhao, Xia ^[6]; Xia, Nan ^[7]; Wu, Xinhui ^[7]; ^[3]

Beijing Normal Univ. (China). State Key Lab. of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, School of Natural Resources; Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Lund Univ. (Sweden); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Univ. of Utrecht (Netherlands)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
Beijing Normal Univ. (China). School of Natural Resources

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) limitation constrains the magnitude of terrestrial carbon uptake in response to elevated carbon dioxide and climate change. However, global maps of nutrient limitation are still lacking. Here we examined global N and P limitation using the ratio of site-averaged leaf N and P resorption efficiencies of the dominant species across 171 sites. We evaluated our predictions using a global database of N- and P-limitation experiments based on nutrient additions at 106 and 53 sites, respectively. Globally, we found a shift from relative P to N limitation for both higher latitudes and precipitation seasonality and lower mean annual temperature, temperature seasonality, mean annual precipitation and soil clay fraction. Excluding cropland, urban and glacial areas, we estimate that 18% of the natural terrestrial land area is significantly limited by N, whereas 43% is relatively P limited. The remaining 39% of the natural terrestrial land area could be co-limited by N and P or weakly limited by either nutrient alone. This work provides both a new framework for testing nutrient limitation and a benchmark of N and P limitation for models to constrain predictions of the terrestrial carbon sink.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1615892

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--798177; 1000287

Journal Information:: Nature Geoscience, Journal Name: Nature Geoscience Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 13; ISSN 1752-0894

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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