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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

A CO2 Concentration Gradient Facility for Testing CO2 Enrichment and Soil Effects on Grassland Ecosystem Function
Published on: November 21, 2015
Phosphorus availability and elevated CO2 affect biological nitrogen fixation and nutrient fluxes in a
Everard J Edwards1, Stephanie McCaffery, John R Evans
1Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting & Environmental Biology Group, Research School of Biological Sciences, The Australian National University, GPO Box 475, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia. everard.edwards@anu.edu.au
Abstract:
The response of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) to elevated CO(2) was examined in white clover (Trifolium repens)-dominated swards under both high and low phosphorus availability. Mixed swards of clover and buffalo grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum) were grown for 15 months in 0.2 m2 sand-filled mesocosms under two CO2 treatments (ambient and twice ambient) and three nutrient treatments [no N, and either low or high P (5 or 134 kg P ha(-1)); the third nutrient treatment was supplied with high P and N (240 kg N ha(-1))]. Under ambient CO2, high P increased BNF from 410 to 900 kg ha(-1). Elevated CO2 further increased BNF to 1180 kg ha(-1) with high P, but there was no effect of CO2 on BNF with low P. Allocation of N belowground increased by approx. 50% under elevated CO2 irrespective of supplied P. The results suggest that where soil P availability is low, elevated CO2 will not increase BNF, and pasture quality could decrease because of a reduction in aboveground N.
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