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Additive Effects of Warming and Increased Nitrogen Deposition in a Temperate Old Field: Plant Productivity and the Importance of Winter

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Abstract

Both climate warming and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition are predicted to alter plant productivity and species composition over the next century. However, the extent to which their effects may interact is unclear. For example, over winter, the effects of warming on soil freezing dynamics may promote ecosystem N losses, thereby limiting increases in productivity in response to warming, yet these losses may be compensated for by increased N deposition. We measured plant production and species composition in response to warming (winter-only or year-round) and N addition in a temperate old field. We used shoot allometric relationships to estimate aboveground production non-destructively and sampled root biomass destructively throughout two growing seasons. We also used spectral data (normalized difference vegetation index—NDVI) to examine the treatment effects on the timing of plant green-up and senescence. In 2007, which featured an exceptionally dry summer, there were no treatment effects on plant growth. However, in 2008, warming (both winter-only and year-round) and N addition combined approximately doubled aboveground productivity, and these effects were additive. Warming increased root biomass, but no N effect was evident. Conversely, N addition increased NDVI, but NDVI was unresponsive to warming. Overall, our results do not support the hypothesis that warming-induced changes to soil freezing dynamics limit plant productivity in our system. On the contrary, they demonstrate that winter warming alone can increase primary productivity to the same extent as year-round warming, and that this effect may interact very strongly with interannual variation in precipitation.

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Acknowledgements

The infrastructure for this experiment was funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund. This work was also supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant to HALH. We thank Gena Braun for assistance in installing the infrastructure.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada

    Jennifer S. Hutchison & Hugh A. L. Henry

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  1. Jennifer S. Hutchison
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  2. Hugh A. L. Henry
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Correspondence to Hugh A. L. Henry.

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JSH performed the research and contributed to the writing. HALH conceived of and designed the study, analyzed the data and contributed to the writing.

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Hutchison, J.S., Henry, H.A.L. Additive Effects of Warming and Increased Nitrogen Deposition in a Temperate Old Field: Plant Productivity and the Importance of Winter. Ecosystems 13, 661–672 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-010-9344-3

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