Alleviation of nutrient co-limitation induces regime shifts in post-fire community composition and productivity in Arctic tundra
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
| Veröffentlicht in: | Global change biology. - 1999. - 27(2021), 14 vom: 02. Juli, Seite 3324-3335 |
|---|---|
| 1. Verfasser: | |
| Weitere Verfasser: | , |
| Format: | Online-Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2021
|
| Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk: | Global change biology |
| Schlagworte: | Journal Article Anaktuvuk River fire Arctic tundra community ecology disturbance nutrient limitation regime shifts succession Soil |
| Zusammenfassung: | © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Recent unprecedented fires in the Arctic during the past two decades have indicated a pressing need to understand the long-term ecological impacts of fire in this biome. Anecdotal evidence suggests that tundra fires can induce regime shifts that change tussock tundra to more shrub-dominated ecosystems. However, the ecological mechanisms regulating these shifts are poorly understood, but are hypothesized to involve changes to nutrient availability in this nutrient limited system. Here we conducted a 4-year two-factorial (control: C, nitrogen along: N+ , phosphorus alone: P+ , nitrogen and phosphorus combined: NP+ ) fertilization experiment in both unburned and burned tundra to test this hypothesis after a decade of post-fire recovery. A decade after fire, the burned site exhibited an increase in soil nitrogen and phosphorus availability and a transition toward taller, more productive, and more deciduous vegetation. This shift in vegetation structure, composition, and function was induced at the unburned site through the addition of both NP+ and the alleviation of their co-limitation. Both burned and unburned tundra responded similarly to fertilizer treatments by increasing leaf area index, greenness, and canopy height in NP+ treatments, and exhibited no significant response in individual N+ or P+ treatments. These results point to a greater need to understand coupled carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles in this system, and suggest that post-fire regime shifts are regulated by the alleviation of nitrogen and phosphorus co-limitation in Arctic tundra |
|---|---|
| Beschreibung: | Date Completed 06.08.2021 Date Revised 06.08.2021 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1365-2486 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/gcb.15646 |