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Updated: Jul 1, 2025

A CO2 Concentration Gradient Facility for Testing CO2 Enrichment and Soil Effects on Grassland Ecosystem Function
Published on: November 21, 2015
Cumulative nitrogen enrichment alters the drivers of grassland overyielding
Miao He1,2, Kathryn E Barry3, Merel B Soons3
1Ecology and Biodiversity group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands. miaohe.eco@gmail.com.
Abstract:
Effects of plant diversity on grassland productivity, or overyielding, are found to be robust to nutrient enrichment. However, the impact of cumulative nitrogen (N) addition (total N added over time) on overyielding and its drivers are underexplored. Synthesizing data from 15 multi-year grassland biodiversity experiments with N addition, we found that N addition decreases complementarity effects and increases selection effects proportionately, resulting in no overall change in overyielding regardless of N addition rate. However, we observed a convex relationship between overyielding and cumulative N addition, driven by a shift from complementarity to selection effects. This shift suggests diminishing positive interactions and an increasing contribution of a few dominant species with increasing N accumulation. Recognizing the importance of cumulative N addition is vital for understanding its impacts on grassland overyielding, contributing essential insights for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem resilience in the face of increasing N deposition.
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