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Nitrogen availability and summer drought, but not N:P imbalance, drive carbon use efficiency of a Mediterranean tree-grass ecosystem

Journal Article · · Global Change Biology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17486· OSTI ID:2440826
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [3];  [8];  [4];  [3];  [9]
  1. Trinity College Dublin (Ireland); Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena (Germany)
  2. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf (Switzerland)
  3. Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena (Germany)
  4. University of Extremadura, Plasencia (Spain)
  5. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), College Park, MD (United States). Joint Global Change Research Institute; Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid (Spain). Environmental Remote Sensing and Spectroscopy Laboratory (SpecLab)
  6. Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)
  7. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), College Park, MD (United States). Joint Global Change Research Institute
  8. Fundación Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo (CEAM), Valencia (Spain)
  9. Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena (Germany); European Commission, Ispra (Italy). Joint Research Centre
+ Show Author Affiliations
All ecosystems contain both sources and sinks for atmospheric carbon (C). A change in their balance of net and gross ecosystem carbon uptake, ecosystem-scale carbon use efficiency (CUEECO), is a change in their ability to buffer climate change. However, anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition is increasing N availability, potentially shifting terrestrial ecosystem stoichiometry towards phosphorus (P) limitation. Depending on how gross primary production (GPP, plants alone) and ecosystem respiration (RECO, plants and heterotrophs) are limited by N, P or associated changes in other biogeochemical cycles, CUEECO may change. Seasonally, CUEECO also varies as the multiple processes that control GPP and respiration and their limitations shift in time. We worked in a Mediterranean tree-grass ecosystem (locally called ‘dehesa’) characterized by mild, wet winters and summer droughts. We examined CUEECO from eddy covariance fluxes over 6 years under control, +N and + NP fertilized treatments on three timescales: annual, seasonal (determined by vegetation phenological phases) and 14-day aggregations. Finer aggregation allowed consideration of responses to specific patterns in vegetation activity and meteorological conditions. We predicted that CUEECO should be increased by wetter conditions, and successively by N and NP fertilization. Milder and wetter years with proportionally longer growing seasons increased CUEECO, as did N fertilization, regardless of whether P was added. Using a generalized additive model, whole ecosystem phenological status and water deficit indicators, which both varied with treatment, were the main determinants of 14-day differences in CUEECO. The direction of water effects depended on the timescale considered and occurred alongside treatment-dependent water depletion. Overall, future regional trends of longer dry summers may push these systems towards lower CUEECO.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Royal Society and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) University Research Fellowship; USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
2440826
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA--193215
Journal Information:
Global Change Biology, Journal Name: Global Change Biology Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 30; ISSN 1354-1013
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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