@article {KNZ001788, title = {Grassland productivity limited by multiple nutrients}, journal = {Nature Plants}, volume = {1}, year = {2015}, pages = {15080}, abstract = {

Terrestrial ecosystem productivity is widely accepted to be nutrient limited1. Although nitrogen (N) is deemed a key determinant of aboveground net primary production (ANPP)2,3, the prevalence of co-limitation by N and phosphorus (P) is increasingly recognized4,​5,​6,​7,​8. However, the extent to which terrestrial productivity is co-limited by nutrients other than N and P has remained unclear. Here, we report results from a standardized factorial nutrient addition experiment, in which we added N, P and potassium (K) combined with a selection of micronutrients (K+μ), alone or in concert, to 42 grassland sites spanning five continents, and monitored ANPP. Nutrient availability limited productivity at 31 of the 42 grassland sites. And pairwise combinations of N, P, and K+μ co-limited ANPP at 29 of the sites. Nitrogen limitation peaked in cool, high latitude sites. Our findings highlight the importance of less studied nutrients, such as K and micronutrients, for grassland productivity, and point to significant variations in the type and degree of nutrient limitation. We suggest that multiple-nutrient constraints must be considered when assessing the ecosystem-scale consequences of nutrient enrichment.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1038/nplants.2015.80}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/nplants201580}, author = {Fay, P.A. and Prober, S.M. and Harpole, W.S. and Knops, J.M.H. and J.D. Bakker and E.T. Borer and Lind, E.M. and MacDougall, A.S. and Seabloom, E.W. and Wragg, P.D. and P. Adler and D.M. Blumenthal and Buckley, Y.M. and Chu, C. and Cleland, E.E. and Scott. L. Collins and Davies, K.F. and G. Du and Feng, X. and Firn, J. and Gruner, D.S. and Hagenah, N. and Hautier, Y. and Heckman, R.W. and Jin, V.L. and Kirkman, K.P. and Klein, J. and L. Ladwig and Li, Q. and McCulley, R.L. and Melbourne, B.A. and Mitchell, C.E. and Joslin L. Moore and J.W. Morgan and A. Risch and sch{\"u}tz, M. and Stevens, C.J. and Wedin, D.A. and Yang, L.H.} } @article {KNZ001678, title = {Plant diversity predicts beta but not alpha diversity of soil microbes across grasslands worldwide}, journal = {Ecology Letters}, volume = {18}, year = {2015}, pages = {85 -95}, abstract = {

Aboveground\–belowground interactions exert critical controls on the composition and function of terrestrial ecosystems, yet the fundamental relationships between plant diversity and soil microbial diversity remain elusive. Theory predicts predominantly positive associations but tests within single sites have shown variable relationships, and associations between plant and microbial diversity across broad spatial scales remain largely unexplored. We compared the diversity of plant, bacterial, archaeal and fungal communities in one hundred and forty-five 1 m2 plots across 25 temperate grassland sites from four continents. Across sites, the plant alpha diversity patterns were poorly related to those observed for any soil microbial group. However, plant beta diversity (compositional dissimilarity between sites) was significantly correlated with the beta diversity of bacterial and fungal communities, even after controlling for environmental factors. Thus, across a global range of temperate grasslands, plant diversity can predict patterns in the composition of soil microbial communities, but not patterns in alpha diversity.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1111/ele.12381}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ele.12381}, author = {Prober, S.M. and Leff, J.W. and Bates, S.T. and E.T. Borer and Firn, J. and Harpole, W.S. and Lind, E.M. and Seabloom, E.W. and P. Adler and J.D. Bakker and E.E Cleland and DeCrappeo, N.M. and DeLorenze, E. and Hagenah, N. and Hautier, Y. and Hofmockel, K.S. and Kirkman, K.P. and Knops, J.M.H. and Kimberly J. La Pierre and MacDougall, A.S. and McCulley, R.L. and Mitchell, C.E. and A. Risch and Schuetz, M. and Stevens, C.J. and Williams, R.J. and Fierer, N.} } @article {KNZ001793, title = {Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {508}, year = {2014}, pages = {517 - 520}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1038/nature13144}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/nature13144}, author = {E.T. Borer and Seabloom, E.W. and Gruner, D.S. and Harpole, W.S and Hillebrand, H. and Lind, E.M. and P. Adler and J. Alberti and Anderson, T.M. and J.D. Bakker and L.A. Biederman and D.M. Blumenthal and C.S. Brown and Brudvig, L.A. and Buckley, Y.M. and Cadotte, M. and Chu, C. and Cleland, E.E. and Crawley, M.J. and Daleo, P. and Damschen, E.I. and Davies, K.F. and DeCrappeo, N.M. and G. Du and Firn, J. and Hautier, Y. and Heckman, R.W. and Hector, A. and HilleRisLambers, J. and Iribarne, Oscar and Klein, J.A. and Knops, J.M.H. and Kimberly J. La Pierre and Leakey, A.D.B. and Li, W. and MacDougall, A.S. and McCulley, R.L. and Melbourne, B.A. and Mitchell, C.E. and Joslin L. Moore and Mortensen, B. and O{\textquoteright}Halloran, L.R. and Orrock, J.L. and Pascual, J. and Prober, S.M. and Pyke, D.A. and A. Risch and Schuetz, M. and M.D. Smith and Stevens, C.J. and L.L. Sullivan and Williams, R.J. and Wragg, P.D. and Wright, J.P. and Yang, L.H.} } @article {KNZ001790, title = {Predicting invasion in grassland ecosystems: is exotic dominance the real embarrassment of richness?}, journal = {Global Change Biology}, volume = {19}, year = {2013}, pages = {3677 - 3687}, abstract = {

Invasions have increased the size of regional species pools, but are typically assumed to reduce native diversity. However, global-scale tests of this assumption have been elusive because of the focus on exotic species richness, rather than relative abundance. This is problematic because low invader richness can indicate invasion resistance by the native community or, alternatively, dominance by a single exotic species. Here, we used a globally replicated study to quantify relationships between exotic richness and abundance in grass-dominated ecosystems in 13 countries on six continents, ranging from salt marshes to alpine tundra. We tested effects of human land use, native community diversity, herbivore pressure, and nutrient limitation on exotic plant dominance. Despite its widespread use, exotic richness was a poor proxy for exotic dominance at low exotic richness, because sites that contained few exotic species ranged from relatively pristine (low exotic richness and cover) to almost completely exotic-dominated ones (low exotic richness but high exotic cover). Both exotic cover and richness were predicted by native plant diversity (native grass richness) and land use (distance to cultivation). Although climate was important for predicting both exotic cover and richness, climatic factors predicting cover (precipitation variability) differed from those predicting richness (maximum temperature and mean temperature in the wettest quarter). Herbivory and nutrient limitation did not predict exotic richness or cover. Exotic dominance was greatest in areas with low native grass richness at the site- or regional-scale. Although this could reflect native grass displacement, a lack of biotic resistance is a more likely explanation, given that grasses comprise the most aggressive invaders. These findings underscore the need to move beyond richness as a surrogate for the extent of invasion, because this metric confounds monodominance with invasion resistance. Monitoring species\&$\#$39; relative abundance will more rapidly advance our understanding of invasions.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1111/gcb.12370}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.12370}, author = {Seabloom, E.W. and E.T. Borer and Buckley, Y. and Cleland, E.E. and Davies, K. and Firn, J. and Harpole, W.S. and Hautier, Y. and Lind, E. and MacDougall, A. and Orrock, J.L. and Prober, S.M. and P. Adler and J. Alberti and Anderson, M.T. and J.D. Bakker and L.A. Biederman and D.M. Blumenthal and C.S. Brown and Brudvig, L.A. and Caldeira, M. and Chu, C. and Crawley, M.J. and Daleo, P. and Damschen, E.I. and D{\textquoteright}Antonio, C.M. and DeCrappeo, N.M. and Dickman, C.R. and G. Du and Fay, P.A. and Frater, P. and Gruner, D.S. and Hagenah, N. and Hector, A. and Helm, A. and Hillebrand, H. and Hofmockel, K.S. and Humphries, H.C. and Iribarne, O. and Jin, V.L. and Kay, A. and Kirkman, K.P. and Klein, J.A. and Knops, J.M.H. and Kimberly J. La Pierre and L. Ladwig and Lambrinos, J.G. and Leakey, A.D.B. and Li, Q. and Li, W. and McCulley, R. and Melbourne, B. and Mitchell, C.E. and Joslin L. Moore and J.W. Morgan and Mortensen, B. and O{\textquoteright}Halloran, L.R. and P{\"a}rtel, M. and Pascual, J and Pyke, D.A. and A. Risch and Salguero-Gomez, R. and Sankaran, M. and Schuetz, M. and Simonsen, A. and M.D. Smith and Stevens, C. and Sullivan, L. and Wardle, G.M. and Wolkovich, E.M. and Wragg, P.D. and Wright, J. and Yang, L.} } @article {KNZ001448, title = {Productivity is a poor predictor of plant species richness}, journal = {Science}, volume = {333}, year = {2011}, pages = {1750 -1753}, abstract = {

For more than 30 years, the relationship between net primary productivity and species richness has generated intense debate in ecology about the processes regulating local diversity. The original view, which is still widely accepted, holds that the relationship is hump-shaped, with richness first rising and then declining with increasing productivity. Although recent meta-analyses questioned the generality of hump-shaped patterns, these syntheses have been criticized for failing to account for methodological differences among studies. We addressed such concerns by conducting standardized sampling in 48 herbaceous-dominated plant communities on five continents. We found no clear relationship between productivity and fine-scale (meters\−2) richness within sites, within regions, or across the globe. Ecologists should focus on fresh, mechanistic approaches to understanding the multivariate links between productivity and richness.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1126/science.1204498}, url = {http://science.sciencemag.org/content/333/6050/1750}, author = {P. Adler and Seabloom, E.W. and E.T. Borer and Hillebrand, H. and Hautier, Y. and Hector, A. and Harpole, W.S. and O{\textquoteright}Halloran, L.R. and Grace, J.B. and Anderson, T.M. and J.D. Bakker and L.A. Biederman and C.S. Brown and Buckley, Y.M. and Calabrese, L.B. and Chu, C.J. and Cleland, E.E. and Scott. L. Collins and Cottingham, K.L. and Crawley, M.J. and Damschen, E.I. and Davies, K.F. and DeCrappeo, N.M. and Fay, P.A. and Firn, J. and Frater, P. and Gasarch, E.I. and Gruner, D.S. and Hagenah, N. and HilleRisLambers, J. and Humphries, H.C. and Jin, V.L. and Kay, A. and Kirkman, K.P. and Klein, J.A. and Knops, J.M.H. and Kimberly J. La Pierre and Lambrinos, J.G. and Li, W. and MacDougall, A.S. and McCulley, R.L. and Melbourne, B.A. and Mitchell, C.E. and Joslin L. Moore} }