Fertilization decreases plant biodiversity even when light is not limiting
- 21 February 2011
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Ecology Letters
- Vol. 14 (4), 380-388
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01599.x
Abstract
Many researchers hypothesize that plant richness declines at high soil fertility (and high productivity) due to light limitation. We tested this hypothesis in an old-field by independently manipulating fertilization and light levels via shade cloth (decreased light), vegetation tie-backs (increased light) and vegetation clipping (increased light). Droughts occurred during two of the four years of the study, and we found that higher light levels were generally associated with decreased plant richness in drought years but increased plant richness in wet years. Most importantly, fertilization decreased richness whether light availability limited richness (wet years) or did not limit richness (drought years), and the effects of fertilization and light manipulation treatments were additive. These results suggest that effects of fertilization on plant richness are at least partly independent of light levels and that competition for resources other than light plays a substantial role in the decline of plant richness after fertilization.Keywords
This publication has 31 references indexed in Scilit:
- Integrated Responses of Grassland Biodiversity and Ecosystem Properties to Hay Management: A Field ExperimentTransactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, 2010
- The relative importance of the species pool, productivity and disturbance in regulating grassland plant species richness: a field experimentJournal of Ecology, 2008
- Loss of plant species after chronic low-level nitrogen deposition to prairie grasslandsNature, 2008
- CONTINGENCY OF GRASSLAND RESTORATION ON YEAR, SITE, AND COMPETITION FROM INTRODUCED GRASSESEcological Applications, 2003
- Spatial scale dictates the productivity–biodiversity relationshipNature, 2002
- Competition between tree seedlings and herbaceous vegetation: support for a theory of resource supply and demandJournal of Ecology, 1998
- COMPETITION AND FACILITATION: A SYNTHETIC APPROACH TO INTERACTIONS IN PLANT COMMUNITIESEcology, 1997
- Biodiversity Studies: Science and PolicyScience, 1991
- Effects of Different Resource Additions of Species Diversity in an Annual Plant CommunityEcology, 1990
- Resource manipulations in natural vegetation: a reviewPlant Ecology, 1989