Abstract
Background and aims
Plant nutrients play a fundamental role in regulating ecosystem functioning and are sensitive to global changes such as precipitation change and nitrogen (N) deposition. However, the mechanisms by which resource availability and community composition mediate canopy nutrients remain unclear.
Methods
We investigated soil resource availability, plant productivity, community composition and canopy nutrient status in a 6-year water and N addition experiment in a desert shrubland of northern China.
Results
Water addition overall negatively affected canopy N content but had no effect on canopy phosphorus (P) content, and these effects were mediated by ambient precipitation. In drier years, water addition reduced canopy N and P contents via decreasing shrub-herb ratio and increasing community productivity. In wetter years, higher precipitation levels weakened water effects on plant community, causing a neutral water effect on canopy N content. Furthermore, this increased precipitation intensified soil calcium leaching, which, in turn, had a positive water effect on canopy P content. Accordingly, canopy N and P contents showed negative logarithmic and concave-shaped relationships with precipitation, respectively. Nitrogen enrichment increased canopy N but reduced P content through increasing soil N availability and reducing shrub-herb ratio.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that both ambient precipitation levels and plant functional composition play pivotal roles in mediating desert canopy nutrient responses to precipitation change and N deposition. Our findings also highlight the fundamental role of soil calcium in regulating plant P responses to precipitation change, which provide new insights into our understanding of biogeochemical coupling under global change.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32001373, U22A20504, and 31470711). We thank Shijun Liu, Jing Zheng, Jie Fu, Na Liu, Feng Bai, and Guannan Zhu for their assistance in field and laboratory work.
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WS and YQZ conceived the ideas and designed methodology; WS, YB, YQ, LL, WZ, LM and CM collected the data; WS and YB analyzed the data; WS led the writing of the manuscript; WS, YZ and WL interpreted the results; YQZ, YZ, WL, SQ, WF and ZL assisted with revising the draft manuscript. All authors approved this manuscript.
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She, W., Zhou, Y., Luo, W. et al. Precipitation and plant functional composition mediate desert canopy nutrient responses to water and nitrogen addition. Plant Soil 496, 609–621 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06384-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06384-x