Mechanisms for success after long-term nutrient enrichment in a boreal forest understory.

Global levels of reactive nitrogen are predicted to rise in the coming decades as a result of increased deposition from the burning of fossil fuels and the large-scale conversion of nitrogen into a useable form for agriculture. Many plant communities respond strongly to increases in soil nitrogen, p...

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Autores principales:	Tess Nahanni Grainger, Roy Turkington
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/53ea25c21d584aa98f5f02e25e366fd9
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:53ea25c21d584aa98f5f02e25e366fd92021-11-18T07:50:41ZMechanisms for success after long-term nutrient enrichment in a boreal forest understory.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0061229https://doaj.org/article/53ea25c21d584aa98f5f02e25e366fd92013-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23573298/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Global levels of reactive nitrogen are predicted to rise in the coming decades as a result of increased deposition from the burning of fossil fuels and the large-scale conversion of nitrogen into a useable form for agriculture. Many plant communities respond strongly to increases in soil nitrogen, particularly in northern ecosystems where nitrogen levels are naturally very low. An experiment in northern Canada that was initiated in 1990 has been investigating the effects of long-term nutrient enrichment (fertilizer added annually) on a boreal forest understory community. We used this experiment to investigate why some species increase in abundance under nutrient enrichment whereas others decline. We focused on four species that differed in their responses to fertilization: Mertensia paniculata and Epilobium angustifolium increased in abundance, Achillea millefolium remained relatively constant and Festuca altaica declined. We hypothesized that the two species that were successful in the new high-nutrient, light-limited environment would be taller, have higher specific leaf area, change phenology by growing earlier in the season and be more morphologically plastic than their less successful counterparts. We compared plant height, specific leaf area, growth spurt date and allocation to leaves in plants grown in control and fertilized plots. We demonstrated that each of the two species that came to dominate fertilized plots has a different combination of traits and responses that likely gave them a competitive advantage; M. paniculata has the highest specific leaf area of the four species whereas E. angustifolium is tallest and exhibits morphological plasticity when fertilized by increasing biomass allocation to leaves. These results indicate that rather than one strategy determining success when nutrients become available, a variety of traits and responses may contribute to a species' ability to persist in a nutrient-enriched boreal forest understory.Tess Nahanni GraingerRoy TurkingtonPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 4, p e61229 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Tess Nahanni Grainger Roy Turkington Mechanisms for success after long-term nutrient enrichment in a boreal forest understory.
description	Global levels of reactive nitrogen are predicted to rise in the coming decades as a result of increased deposition from the burning of fossil fuels and the large-scale conversion of nitrogen into a useable form for agriculture. Many plant communities respond strongly to increases in soil nitrogen, particularly in northern ecosystems where nitrogen levels are naturally very low. An experiment in northern Canada that was initiated in 1990 has been investigating the effects of long-term nutrient enrichment (fertilizer added annually) on a boreal forest understory community. We used this experiment to investigate why some species increase in abundance under nutrient enrichment whereas others decline. We focused on four species that differed in their responses to fertilization: Mertensia paniculata and Epilobium angustifolium increased in abundance, Achillea millefolium remained relatively constant and Festuca altaica declined. We hypothesized that the two species that were successful in the new high-nutrient, light-limited environment would be taller, have higher specific leaf area, change phenology by growing earlier in the season and be more morphologically plastic than their less successful counterparts. We compared plant height, specific leaf area, growth spurt date and allocation to leaves in plants grown in control and fertilized plots. We demonstrated that each of the two species that came to dominate fertilized plots has a different combination of traits and responses that likely gave them a competitive advantage; M. paniculata has the highest specific leaf area of the four species whereas E. angustifolium is tallest and exhibits morphological plasticity when fertilized by increasing biomass allocation to leaves. These results indicate that rather than one strategy determining success when nutrients become available, a variety of traits and responses may contribute to a species' ability to persist in a nutrient-enriched boreal forest understory.
format	article
author	Tess Nahanni Grainger Roy Turkington
author_facet	Tess Nahanni Grainger Roy Turkington
author_sort	Tess Nahanni Grainger
title	Mechanisms for success after long-term nutrient enrichment in a boreal forest understory.
title_short	Mechanisms for success after long-term nutrient enrichment in a boreal forest understory.
title_full	Mechanisms for success after long-term nutrient enrichment in a boreal forest understory.
title_fullStr	Mechanisms for success after long-term nutrient enrichment in a boreal forest understory.
title_full_unstemmed	Mechanisms for success after long-term nutrient enrichment in a boreal forest understory.
title_sort	mechanisms for success after long-term nutrient enrichment in a boreal forest understory.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/53ea25c21d584aa98f5f02e25e366fd9
work_keys_str_mv	AT tessnahannigrainger mechanismsforsuccessafterlongtermnutrientenrichmentinaborealforestunderstory AT royturkington mechanismsforsuccessafterlongtermnutrientenrichmentinaborealforestunderstory
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Mechanisms for success after long-term nutrient enrichment in a boreal forest understory.

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