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Bassett KR, Östlund L, Gundale MJ, Fridman J, Jämtgård S. Forest inventory tree core archive reveals changes in boreal wood traits over seven decades. Sci Total Environ 2023; 900:165795. [PMID: 37499833 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
Boreal forests play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle, and there is great interest in understanding how they respond to environmental change, including nitrogen (N) and water limitation, which could impact future forest growth and C storage. Utilizing tree cores archived by the Swedish National Forest Inventory, we measured stemwood traits, including stable N and C isotope composition which provides valuable information related to N availability and water stress, respectively, as well as N and C content, and C/N ratio over 1950-2017 in two central Swedish counties covering an area of ca. 55,000 sq. km (n = 1038). We tested the hypothesis that wood traits are changing over time, and that temporal patterns would differ depending on alternative dendrochronological reconstruction methods, i.e. the commonly applied "single tree method" (STM) or a conceptually stronger "multiple tree method" (MTM). Averaged across all MTMs, our data showed that all five wood traits for Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris changed over time. Wood δ15N strongly declined, indicating progressive nitrogen limitation. The decline in δ13C tracked the known atmospheric δ13CO2 signal, suggesting no change in water stress occurred. Additionally, wood N significantly increased, while C and C/N ratios declined over time. Furthermore, wood trait patterns sometimes differed between dendrochronological methods. The most notable difference was for δ15N, where the slope was much shallower for the STM compared to MTMs for both species, indicating that mobility of contemporary N is problematic when using the STM, resulting in substantially less sensitivity to detect historical signals. Our study indicates strong temporal changes in boreal wood traits and also indicates that the field of dendroecology should adopt new methods and archiving practices for studying highly mobile element cycles, such as nitrogen, which are critical for understanding environmental change in high latitude ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelley R Bassett
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE901-83 Umeå, Sweden.
| | - Lars Östlund
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE901-83 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Michael J Gundale
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE901-83 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Jonas Fridman
- Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE901-83 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Sandra Jämtgård
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE901-83 Umeå, Sweden
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Kempel A, Allan E, Gossner MM, Jochum M, Grace JB, Wardle DA. From bottom-up to top-down control of invertebrate herbivores in a retrogressive chronosequence. Ecol Lett 2023; 26:411-424. [PMID: 36688259 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
In the long-term absence of disturbance, ecosystems often enter a decline or retrogressive phase which leads to reductions in primary productivity, plant biomass, nutrient cycling and foliar quality. However, the consequences of ecosystem retrogression for higher trophic levels such as herbivores and predators, are less clear. Using a post-fire forested island-chronosequence across which retrogression occurs, we provide evidence that nutrient availability strongly controls invertebrate herbivore biomass when predators are few, but that there is a switch from bottom-up to top-down control when predators are common. This trophic flip in herbivore control probably arises because invertebrate predators respond to alternative energy channels from the adjacent aquatic matrix, which were independent of terrestrial plant biomass. Our results suggest that effects of nutrient limitation resulting from ecosystem retrogression on trophic cascades are modified by nutrient-independent variation in predator abundance, and this calls for a more holistic approach to trophic ecology to better understand herbivore effects on plant communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Kempel
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden.,WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland.,Climate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Centre CERC, Davos, Switzerland.,University of Bern, Institute of Plant Sciences, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Eric Allan
- University of Bern, Institute of Plant Sciences, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Martin M Gossner
- Forest Entomology, WSL Swiss Federal Research Institute, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.,ETH Zurich, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Malte Jochum
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Leipzig University, Institute of Biology, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - David A Wardle
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden.,Nanyang Technological University, Asian School of the Environment, Singapore, Singapore
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3
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Koranda M, Michelsen A. Mosses reduce soil nitrogen availability in a subarctic birch forest via effects on soil thermal regime and sequestration of deposited nitrogen. J Ecol 2021; 109:1424-1438. [PMID: 33776135 PMCID: PMC7986113 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.13567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 12/01/2020] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
In high-latitude ecosystems bryophytes are important drivers of ecosystem functions. Alterations in abundance of mosses due to global change may thus strongly influence carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling and hence cause feedback on climate. The effects of mosses on soil microbial activity are, however, still poorly understood. Our study aims at elucidating how and by which mechanisms bryophytes influence microbial decomposition processes of soil organic matter and thus soil nutrient availability.We present results from a field experiment in a subarctic birch forest in northern Sweden, where we partly removed the moss cover and replaced it with an artificial soil cover for simulating moss effects on soil temperature and moisture. We combined this with a fertilization experiment with 15N-labelled N for analysing the effects of moss N sequestration on soil processes.Our results demonstrate the capacity of mosses to reduce soil N availability and retard N cycling. The comparison with artificial soil cover plots suggests that the effect of mosses on N cycling is linked to the thermal insulation capacity of mosses causing low average soil temperature in summer and strongly reduced soil temperature fluctuations, the latter also leading to a decreased frequency of freeze-thaw events in autumn and spring. Our results also showed, however, that the negative temperature effect of mosses on soil microbial activity was in part compensated by stimulatory effects of the moss layer, possibly linked to leaching of labile substrates from the moss. Furthermore, our results revealed that bryophytes efficiently sequester added N from wet deposition and thus prevent effects of increased atmospheric N deposition on soil N availability and soil processes. Synthesis. Our study emphasizes the important role of mosses in carbon and nutrient cycling in high-latitude ecosystems and the potential strong impacts of reductions in moss abundance on microbial decomposition processes and nutrient availability in subarctic and boreal forests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianne Koranda
- Terrestrial Ecology SectionDepartment of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
- Center for PermafrostUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
- Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem ResearchCentre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems ScienceUniversity of ViennaViennaAustria
| | - Anders Michelsen
- Terrestrial Ecology SectionDepartment of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
- Center for PermafrostUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
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Hyodo F, Takebayashi Y, Makabe A, Wardle DA, Koba K. Changes in stable nitrogen isotopes of plants, bulk soil and soil dissolved N during ecosystem retrogression in boreal forest. Ecol Res 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1440-1703.12208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fujio Hyodo
- Research Core for Interdisciplinary Sciences Okayama University Tsushimanaka Okayama Japan
| | - Yu Takebayashi
- Faculty of Agriculture Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology Tokyo Japan
| | - Akiko Makabe
- Faculty of Agriculture Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology Tokyo Japan
- Institute for Extra‐Cutting‐Edge Science and Technology Avant‐Garde Research (X‐Star) Yokosuka Japan
| | | | - Keisuke Koba
- Faculty of Agriculture Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology Tokyo Japan
- Center for Ecological Research Kyoto University Otsu Shiga Japan
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Craine JM, Elmore AJ, Wang L, Aranibar J, Bauters M, Boeckx P, Crowley BE, Dawes MA, Delzon S, Fajardo A, Fang Y, Fujiyoshi L, Gray A, Guerrieri R, Gundale MJ, Hawke DJ, Hietz P, Jonard M, Kearsley E, Kenzo T, Makarov M, Marañón-jiménez S, Mcglynn TP, Mcneil BE, Mosher SG, Nelson DM, Peri PL, Roggy JC, Sanders-demott R, Song M, Szpak P, Templer PH, Van der Colff D, Werner C, Xu X, Yang Y, Yu G, Zmudczyńska-skarbek K. Isotopic evidence for oligotrophication of terrestrial ecosystems. Nat Ecol Evol 2018; 2:1735-44. [DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0694-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2018] [Accepted: 09/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Kardol P, Fanin N, Wardle DA. Long-term effects of species loss on community properties across contrasting ecosystems. Nature 2018; 557:710-3. [PMID: 29795345 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0138-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2017] [Accepted: 04/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Biodiversity loss can heavily affect the functioning of ecosystems, and improving our understanding of how ecosystems respond to biodiversity decline is one of the main challenges in ecology1-4. Several important aspects of the longer-term effects of biodiversity loss on ecosystems remain unresolved, including how these effects depend on environmental context5-7. Here we analyse data from an across-ecosystem biodiversity manipulation experiment that, to our knowledge, represents the world's longest-running experiment of this type. This experiment has been set up on 30 lake islands in Sweden that vary considerably in productivity and soil fertility owing to differences in fire history8,9. We tested the effects of environmental context on how plant species loss affected two fundamental community attributes-plant community biomass and temporal variability-over 20 years. In contrast to findings from artificially assembled communities10-12, we found that the effects of species loss on community biomass decreased over time; this decrease was strongest on the least productive and least fertile islands. Species loss generally also increased temporal variability, and these effects were greatest on the most productive and most fertile islands. Our findings highlight that the ecosystem-level consequences of biodiversity loss are not constant across ecosystems and that understanding and forecasting these consequences necessitates taking into account the overarching role of environmental context.
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Kumordzi BB, Gundale MJ, Nilsson MC, Wardle DA. Shifts in Aboveground Biomass Allocation Patterns of Dominant Shrub Species across a Strong Environmental Gradient. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0157136. [PMID: 27270445 PMCID: PMC4896472 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2016] [Accepted: 05/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Most plant biomass allocation studies have focused on allocation to shoots versus roots, and little is known about drivers of allocation for aboveground plant organs. We explored the drivers of within-and between-species variation of aboveground biomass allocation across a strong environmental resource gradient, i.e., a long-term chronosequence of 30 forested islands in northern Sweden across which soil fertility and plant productivity declines while light availability increases. For each of the three coexisting dominant understory dwarf shrub species on each island, we estimated the fraction of the total aboveground biomass produced year of sampling that was allocated to sexual reproduction (i.e., fruits), leaves and stems for each of two growing seasons, to determine how biomass allocation responded to the chronosequence at both the within-species and whole community levels. Against expectations, within-species allocation to fruits was least on less fertile islands, and allocation to leaves at the whole community level was greatest on intermediate islands. Consistent with expectations, different coexisting species showed contrasting allocation patterns, with the species that was best adapted for more fertile conditions allocating the most to vegetative organs, and with its allocation pattern showing the strongest response to the gradient. Our study suggests that co-existing dominant plant species can display highly contrasting biomass allocations to different aboveground organs within and across species in response to limiting environmental resources within the same plant community. Such knowledge is important for understanding how community assembly, trait spectra, and ecological processes driven by the plant community vary across environmental gradients and among contrasting ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bright B. Kumordzi
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 901 83, Umeå, Sweden
- Université Laval, Département des Sciences du bois et de la forêt, Pavillon Abitibi-Price, 2405 rue de la Terrasse, Québec, G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Michael J. Gundale
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 901 83, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Marie-Charlotte Nilsson
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 901 83, Umeå, Sweden
| | - David A. Wardle
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 901 83, Umeå, Sweden
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Wheeler J, Schnider F, Sedlacek J, Cortés A, Wipf S, Hoch G, Rixen C. With a little help from my friends: Community facilitation increases performance in the dwarf shrub Salix herbacea. Basic Appl Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2015.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Hantsch L, Bien S, Radatz S, Braun U, Auge H, Bruelheide H. Tree diversity and the role of non-host neighbour tree species in reducing fungal pathogen infestation. J Ecol 2014; 102:1673-1687. [PMID: 25558092 PMCID: PMC4278444 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.12317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2013] [Accepted: 08/23/2014] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
The degree to which plant pathogen infestation occurs in a host plant is expected to be strongly influenced by the level of species diversity among neighbouring host and non-host plant species. Since pathogen infestation can negatively affect host plant performance, it can mediate the effects of local biodiversity on ecosystem functioning.We tested the effects of tree diversity and the proportion of neighbouring host and non-host species with respect to the foliar fungal pathogens of Tilia cordata and Quercus petraea in the Kreinitz tree diversity experiment in Germany. We hypothesized that fungal pathogen richness increases while infestation decreases with increasing local tree diversity. In addition, we tested whether fungal pathogen richness and infestation are dependent on the proportion of host plant species present or on the proportion of particular non-host neighbouring tree species.Leaves of the two target species were sampled across three consecutive years with visible foliar fungal pathogens on the leaf surface being identified macro- and microscopically. Effects of diversity among neighbouring trees were analysed: (i) for total fungal species richness and fungal infestation on host trees and (ii) for infestation by individual fungal species.We detected four and five fungal species on T. cordata and Q. petraea, respectively. High local tree diversity reduced (i) total fungal species richness and infestation of T. cordata and fungal infestation of Q. petraea and (ii) infestation by three host-specialized fungal pathogen species. These effects were brought about by local tree diversity and were independent of host species proportion. In general, host species proportion had almost no effect on fungal species richness and infestation. Strong effects associated with the proportion of particular non-host neighbouring tree species on fungal species richness and infestation were, however, recorded.Synthesis. For the first time, we experimentally demonstrated that for two common forestry tree species, foliar fungal pathogen richness and infestation depend on local biodiversity. Thus, local tree diversity can have positive impacts on ecosystem functioning in managed forests by decreasing the level of fungal pathogen infestation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lydia Hantsch
- Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle WittenbergAm Kirchtor 1, Halle (Saale), D-06108, Germany
| | - Steffen Bien
- Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle WittenbergAm Kirchtor 1, Halle (Saale), D-06108, Germany
| | - Stine Radatz
- Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle WittenbergAm Kirchtor 1, Halle (Saale), D-06108, Germany
| | - Uwe Braun
- Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle WittenbergAm Kirchtor 1, Halle (Saale), D-06108, Germany
| | - Harald Auge
- Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research – UFZTheodor-Lieser-Str. 4, Halle (Saale), D-06120, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigDeutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, D-04103, Germany
| | - Helge Bruelheide
- Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle WittenbergAm Kirchtor 1, Halle (Saale), D-06108, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigDeutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, D-04103, Germany
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Gundale MJ, From F, Bach LH, Nordin A. Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition in boreal forests has a minor impact on the global carbon cycle. Glob Chang Biol 2014; 20:276-86. [PMID: 24115224 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2013] [Revised: 09/03/2013] [Accepted: 09/20/2013] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
It is proposed that increases in anthropogenic reactive nitrogen (Nr ) deposition may cause temperate and boreal forests to sequester a globally significant quantity of carbon (C); however, long-term data from boreal forests describing how C sequestration responds to realistic levels of chronic Nr deposition are scarce. Using a long-term (14-year) stand-scale (0.1 ha) N addition experiment (three levels: 0, 12.5, and 50 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1) ) in the boreal zone of northern Sweden, we evaluated how chronic N additions altered N uptake and biomass of understory communities, and whether changes in understory communities explained N uptake and C sequestration by trees. We hypothesized that understory communities (i.e. mosses and shrubs) serve as important sinks for low-level N additions, with the strength of these sinks weakening as chronic N addition rates increase, due to shifts in species composition. We further hypothesized that trees would exhibit nonlinear increases in N acquisition, and subsequent C sequestration as N addition rates increased, due to a weakening understory N sink. Our data showed that understory biomass was reduced by 50% in response to the high N addition treatment, mainly due to reduced moss biomass. A (15) N labeling experiment showed that feather mosses acquired the largest fraction of applied label, with this fraction decreasing as the chronic N addition level increased. Contrary to our hypothesis, the proportion of label taken up by trees was equal (ca. 8%) across all three N addition treatments. The relationship between N addition and C sequestration in all vegetation pools combined was linear, and had a slope of 16 kg C kg(-1) N. While canopy retention of Nr deposition may cause C sequestration rates to be slightly different than this estimate, our data suggest that a minor quantity of annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions are sequestered into boreal forests as a result of Nr deposition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Gundale
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-901 83, Umeå, Sweden
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Lindo Z, Nilsson MC, Gundale MJ. Bryophyte-cyanobacteria associations as regulators of the northern latitude carbon balance in response to global change. Glob Chang Biol 2013; 19:2022-35. [PMID: 23505142 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2012] [Revised: 01/17/2013] [Accepted: 01/23/2013] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Ecosystems in the far north, including arctic and boreal biomes, are a globally significant pool of carbon (C). Global change is proposed to influence both C uptake and release in these ecosystems, thereby potentially affecting whether they act as C sources or sinks. Bryophytes (i.e., mosses) serve a variety of key functions in these systems, including their association with nitrogen (N2 )-fixing cyanobacteria, as thermal insulators of the soil, and producers of recalcitrant litter, which have implications for both net primary productivity (NPP) and heterotrophic respiration. While ground-cover bryophytes typically make up a small proportion of the total biomass in northern systems, their combined physical structure and N2 -fixing capabilities facilitate a disproportionally large impact on key processes that control ecosystem C and N cycles. As such, the response of bryophyte-cyanobacteria associations to global change may influence whether and how ecosystem C balances are influenced by global change. Here, we review what is known about their occurrence and N2 -fixing activity, and how bryophyte systems will respond to several key global change factors. We explore the implications these responses may have in determining how global change influences C balances in high northern latitudes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoë Lindo
- Department of Biology, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
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Wardle DA, Gundale MJ, Jäderlund A, Nilsson MC. Decoupled long-term effects of nutrient enrichment on aboveground and belowground properties in subalpine tundra. Ecology 2013. [DOI: 10.1890/12-0948.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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