Changes in species richness and composition in European acidic grasslands over the past 70 years: the contribution of cumulative atmospheric nitrogen deposition

Dupré, Cecilia; Stevens, Carly J.; Ranke, Traute; Bleeker, A.; Peppler‐Lisbach, Cord; Gowing, David; Dise, Nancy B.; Dorland, Edu; Bobbink, Roland; Diekmann, Martin

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01982.x

Cited by 364 publications

(298 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(66 reference statements)

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“…Overall, changes in the seed bank were more severe than changes in the aboveground plant communities, suggesting that the main effect of N deposition on the seed bank operates via belowground processes. Impoverishment of grassland floras by N deposition is clearly widespread 5,15,27 , with no reason to assume that depletion of grassland seed banks is not equally common, with potentially large effects on diversity, composition and functioning of grassland ecosystems. Such impoverishment threatens to increase the local extinction risk by reducing the capacity of the plant populations to recover from disturbance 9 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term nitrogen deposition depletes grassland seed banks

et al. 2015

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Nitrogen (N) pollution is a global threat to the biodiversity of many plant communities, but its impacts on grassland soil seed banks are unknown. Here we show that size and richness of an acid grassland seed bank is strongly reduced after 13 years of simulated N deposition. Soils receiving 140 kg N ha À 1 per year show a decline in total seed abundance, seed species richness, and the abundance of forbs, sedges and grasses. These results reveal larger effects of N pollution on seed banks than on aboveground vegetation as cover and flowering is not significantly altered for most species. Further, the seed bank shows no recovery 4 years after the cessation of N deposition. These results provide insights into the severe negative effects of N pollution on plant communities that threaten the stability of populations, community persistence and the potential for ecosystems to recover following anthropogenic disturbance or climate change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term nitrogen deposition depletes grassland seed banks

et al. 2015

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“…These appeared to vary by habitat type; in acid grassland and heathland acidification appeared to be the driving process rather than eutrophication (Maskell et al, 2010). In addition to this, large-scale analyses of UK and European data have also detected parallel signals of eutrophication (Dupré et al, 2010;Smart et al, 2004;RoTAP, 2011). As N deposition increases, plant species and traits associated with higher fertility have become more abundant and stresstolerant species have declined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Mountford et al, 1993;Wilson et al, 1995; Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. Maskell et al, 2010;Dupré et al, 2010;Smart et al, 2004;Van den Berg et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of nitrogen deposition on vascular plants in Britain: an analysis of two national observation networks

et al. 2011

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Abstract. Large areas of Great Britain currently have nitrogen (N) deposition at rates which exceed the thresholds above which there is risk of damage to sensitive components of the ecosystem (critical loads). Previous studies have focussed primarily on the relationship of species richness to nitrogen, whereas here we look at individual species. We used data from two national observation networks over Great Britain to examine the response of individual vascular plant species to N in acid grasslands, calcareous grasslands and heathlands. Presence absence records of individual species, along with mean Ellenberg N scores, within 10 km hectads were modelled against N deposition whilst at the same time controlling for the effects of climate, land use and sulphur deposition using generalised additive models. Ellenberg N showed a significant increase with increasing N deposition in almost all habitats across both surveys indicating increased fertility. Many individual species showed strong relationships with N deposition and clear negative trends in species prevalence to increasing nitrogen were found in all habitats. A number of these species were either habitat dominants or possessed traits known to be influential in controlling ecosystem function. Many community dominants showing significant negative relationships with N deposition highlight a potentially significant loss of function. Some species that Correspondence to: P. A. Henrys (pehn@ceh.ac.uk) showed negative relationships to N showed signs of decline at low levels, far below the current critical load levels. Some species also showed continuous changes as N deposition levels rose above the current critical load values. This work contributes to the growing evidence base suggesting species level impacts at low N deposition values.

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“…Communities of temperate perennial grasslands have shown higher resilience to O3 compared to individual species (Thwaites et al, 2006;Volketal., 2011). On the other hand, chronic N deposition is reducing plant species richness of European temperate acid grasslands (Stevens et al, 2004;Dupre et al, 2010). The combination of O3 and N deposition on perennial grasslands shows contrasting results with no interactive effects or an additive response in C allocation in some species (Volk et al, 2011;Wyness et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current ozone levels threaten gross primary production and yield of Mediterranean annual pastures and nitrogen modulates the response

Calvete-Sogo

Elvira

Sanz

et al. 2014

Atmospheric Environment

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Pastures are among the most important ecosystems in Europe considering their biodiversity and distribution area. However, their response to increasing tropospheric ozone (O3) and nitrogen (N) deposition, two of the main drivers of global change, is still uncertain. A new Open-Top Chamber (OTC) experiment was performed in central Spain, aiming to study annual pasture response to O3 and N in close to natural growing conditions. A mixture of six species of three representative families was sowed in the field. Plants were exposed for 40 days to four O3 treatments: filtered air, non-filtered air (NFA) reproducing ambient levels and NFA supplemented with 20 and 40 nl I -1 O3. Three N treatments were considered to reach the N integrated doses of "background", +20 or +40 kg N ha -1 . Ozone significantly reduced green and total aboveground biomass (maximum reduction 25%) and increased the senescent biomass (maximum increase 40%). Accordingly, O3 decreased community Gross Primary Production due to both a global reduction of ecosystem CO2 exchange and an increase of ecosystem respiration. Nitrogen could partially counterbalance O3 effects on aboveground biomass when the levels of O3 were moderate, but at the same time O3 exposure reduced the fertilization effect of higher N availability. Therefore, O3 must be considered as a stress factor for annual pastures in the Mediterranean areas.

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Changes in species richness and composition in European acidic grasslands over the past 70 years: the contribution of cumulative atmospheric nitrogen deposition

Cited by 364 publications

References 45 publications

Long-term nitrogen deposition depletes grassland seed banks

Long-term nitrogen deposition depletes grassland seed banks

Impacts of nitrogen deposition on vascular plants in Britain: an analysis of two national observation networks

Current ozone levels threaten gross primary production and yield of Mediterranean annual pastures and nitrogen modulates the response

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