Anthropogenic global shifts in biospheric N and P concentrations and ratios and their impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem productivity, food security, and human health

Peñuelas, Josep; Janssens, Ivan A.; Ciais, Philippe; Obersteiner, Michael; Sardans, Jordi

doi:10.1111/gcb.14981

Cited by 172 publications

(135 citation statements)

References 329 publications

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“…These similarities, paired with the distinct effect of hydrology on N and P flows (as explored in section 4.1) and in-water processing (previous paragraph), demonstrate that the stoichiometric patterns observed in this study seem consistent with expectations. Global increases in anthropogenic N mobilization at higher rates than P, not only in terms of fertilizer use, will not only affect crop production but also downstream ecosystem function including species composition and carbon sequestration (Peñuelas et al, 2012(Peñuelas et al, , 2013(Peñuelas et al, , 2020.…”

Section: Journal Of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latter is true because a single nutrient generally becomes limiting, especially with manure application (Sileshi et al, 2017). At the global scale, the human mobilization of N may be resulting in more widespread P limitation in ecosystems (Peñuelas et al, 2012), which could limit crop yields in many developing countries without access to P fertilizers (Peñuelas et al, 2020). Similarly, phytoplankton biomass and species composition are sensitive to the N:P ratio in both freshwater and marine environments (Elser et al, 2007; Frank et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where Have All the Nutrients Gone? Long‐Term Decoupling of Inputs and Outputs in the Willamette River Watershed, Oregon, United States

et al. 2020

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Better documentation and understanding of long-term temporal dynamics of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in watersheds is necessary to support effective water quality management, in part because studies have identified time lags between terrestrial nutrient balances and water quality. We present annual time series data from 1969 to 2012 for terrestrial N and P sources and monthly data from 1972 to 2013 for river N and P for the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, United States. Inputs to the watershed increased by factors of 3 for N and 1.2 for P. Synthetic fertilizer inputs increased in total and relative importance over time, while sewage inputs decreased. For N, increased fertilizer application was not matched by a proportionate increase in crop harvest; N use efficiency decreased from 69% to 38%. P use efficiency increased from 52% to 67%. As nutrient inputs to terrestrial systems increased, river concentrations and loads of total N, total P, and dissolved inorganic P decreased, and annual nutrient loads were strongly related to discharge. The N:P ratio of both sewage and fertilizer doubled over time but there was no similar trend in riverine export; river N:P concentrations declined dramatically during storms. River nutrient export over time was related to hydrology and waste discharge, with relatively little influence of watershed balances, suggesting that accumulation within soils or groundwater over time is mediating watershed export. Simply managing yearly nutrient balances is unlikely to improve water quality; rather, many factors must be considered, including soil and groundwater storage capacity, and gaseous loss pathways. Plain Language Summary Too much nitrogen and phosphorus in fresh and coastal waters can cause problems for human, animal, and ecosystem health. For this reason, many entities have been working to reduce the amount of both nutrients entering waterways. In this study, we examine how sources of nitrogen and phosphorus on land have changed over 40+ years in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, United States, and then compare these changes to water quality trends in the river. We found that sources of both nutrients increased over time, especially nitrogen fertilizer. Between 1969 and 2012, wastewater treatment was more effective at removing phosphorus than nitrogen. Changes in fertilizer use and sewage treatment have caused the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus to increase over time. In contrast, the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in the river has decreased, and there was no drastic change in the water nutrient ratio over time. The disconnect between nutrient sources on land and what is observed in the river over time suggests that a large part of the nitrogen and phosphorus used on land is being transferred to the soil, air, or groundwater. Simply managing yearly nutrient balances is unlikely to improve water quality; rather, many factors must be considered.

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Section: Journal Of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where Have All the Nutrients Gone? Long‐Term Decoupling of Inputs and Outputs in the Willamette River Watershed, Oregon, United States

et al. 2020

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“…Nitrogen (N) deposition has been intensively studied at a global scale for its positive impact on soil carbon (C) accumulation (Janssens et al., 2010; Reay et al., 2008). Although smaller than the global total annual N deposition, phosphorus (P) deposition is also rapidly increasing and the increase in soil P availability has no historical precedent (Peñuelas et al., 2020). Tropical soil is characterized by a low P concentration due to intense weathering, leaching or erosion and the primary productivity of tropical forests is usually limited by low soil P availability (Hou et al., 2020; Li et al., 2016; Wright et al., 2018; Yang et al., 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phosphorus addition decreases microbial residual contribution to soil organic carbon pool in a tropical coastal forest

Yuan

Mou

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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105

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The soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability often constrains soil carbon (C) pool, and elevated N deposition could further intensify soil P limitation, which may affect soil C cycling in these N‐rich and P‐poor ecosystems. Soil microbial residues may not only affect soil organic carbon (SOC) pool but also impact SOC stability through soil aggregation. However, how soil nutrient availability and aggregate fractions affect microbial residues and the microbial residue contribution to SOC is still not well understood. We took advantage of a 10‐year field fertilization experiment to investigate the effects of nutrient additions, soil aggregate fractions, and their interactions on the concentrations of soil microbial residues and their contribution to SOC accumulation in a tropical coastal forest. We found that continuous P addition greatly decreased the concentrations of microbial residues and their contribution to SOC, whereas N addition had no significant effect. The P‐stimulated decreases in microbial residues and their contribution to SOC were presumably due to enhanced recycling of microbial residues via increased activity of residue‐decomposing enzymes. The interactive effects between soil aggregate fraction and nutrient addition were not significant, suggesting a weak role of physical protection by soil aggregates in mediating microbial responses to altered soil nutrient availability. Our data suggest that the mechanisms driving microbial residue responses to increased N and P availability might be different, and the P‐induced decrease in the contribution of microbial residues might be unfavorable for the stability of SOC in N‐rich and P‐poor tropical forests. Such information is critical for understanding the role of tropical forests in the global carbon cycle.

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“…Large amounts of N inputs via N fixation alleviate N limitation in numerous biomes, for example, forests (Moyes et al., 2016; Zackrisson, DeLuca, Nilsson, Sellstedt, & Berglund, 2004), grasslands (Reed, Seastedt, et al, 2007), croplands (Parvin et al., 2019), tundra (Rousk, Sorensen, & Michelsen, 2017), and deserts (Su, Zhao, Li, Li, & Huang, 2011), and help to constrain concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ; Meyerholt et al., 2016; Zehr, 2011). Despite the critical role of biological N fixation in terrestrial biomes, our knowledge regarding the controls on N fixation at the scale of terrestrial ecosystems remains very poor (Dynarski & Houlton, 2018; Reed et al., 2011; Zheng, Zhou, Luo, Zhao, & Mo, 2019), which has impeded our understanding, modeling, and prediction of global N budgets and NPP (Gruber & Galloway, 2008; Penuelas, Jannssens, Ciais, Obersteiner, & Sardans, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of human disturbance activities and environmental change factors on terrestrial nitrogen fixation

Zheng

Zhou

Zhao

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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Biological nitrogen (N) fixation plays an important role in terrestrial N cycling and represents a key driver of terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP). Despite the importance of N fixation in terrestrial ecosystems, our knowledge regarding the controls on terrestrial N fixation remains poor. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis (based on 852 observations from 158 studies) of N fixation across three types of ecosystems with different status of disturbance (no management, restoration [previously disturbed], and disturbance [currently disturbed]) and in response to multiple environmental change factors (warming, elevated carbon dioxide [CO 2 ], increased precipitation, increased drought, increased N deposition, and their combinations). We explored the mechanisms underlying the changes in N fixation by examining the variations in soil physicochemical properties (bulk density, texture, moisture, and pH), plant and microbial characteristics (dominant plant species numbers, plant coverage, and soil microbial biomass), and soil resources (total carbon, total N, total phosphorus (P), inorganic N, and inorganic P). Human disturbance inhibited non-symbiotic N fixation but not symbiotic N fixation. Terrestrial N fixation was stimulated by warming (+152.7%), elevated CO 2 (+19.6%), and increased precipitation (+73.1%) but inhibited by increased drought (−30.4%), N deposition (−31.0%), and combinations of available multiple environmental change factors (−14.5%), the extents of which varied among biomes and ecosystem compartments. Human disturbance reduced the N fixation responses to environmental change factors, which was associated with the changes in soil physicochemical properties (2%-56%, p < .001) and the declines in plant and microbial characteristics (3%-49%, p ≤ .003) and soil resources (6%-48%, p ≤ .03). Overall, our findings reveal for the first time the effects of multiple environmental change factors on terrestrial N fixation and indicate the role of human disturbance activities in inhibiting N fixation, which can improve our understanding, modeling, and prediction of terrestrial N budgets, NPP, and ecosystem feedbacks under global change scenarios.

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Anthropogenic global shifts in biospheric N and P concentrations and ratios and their impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem productivity, food security, and human health

Cited by 172 publications

References 329 publications

Where Have All the Nutrients Gone? Long‐Term Decoupling of Inputs and Outputs in the Willamette River Watershed, Oregon, United States

Where Have All the Nutrients Gone? Long‐Term Decoupling of Inputs and Outputs in the Willamette River Watershed, Oregon, United States

Phosphorus addition decreases microbial residual contribution to soil organic carbon pool in a tropical coastal forest

Effects of human disturbance activities and environmental change factors on terrestrial nitrogen fixation

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