Initial plant diversity modulates the effect of nutrient enrichment on grassland stability across a climate gradient in China

doi:10.1093/jpe/rtaf114

J Plant Ecol ›› 2025, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (6): rtaf114.DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtaf114

• Research Article •

Initial plant diversity modulates the effect of nutrient enrichment on grassland stability across a climate gradient in China

Yunlong He¹, Yangjian Zhang^1,2, Juntao Zhu^1,2,*, Qiang Yu³, Dashuan Tian¹, Xiaoan Zuo⁴, Changhui Wang^5,*, Jielin Liu⁶, Cunzheng Wei⁷, Hui An⁸, Fawei Zhang⁹, Bo Zhang¹⁰, Yann Hautier¹¹ and Lin Jiang¹²

¹Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China, ²College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China, ³School of Grassland Science, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China, ⁴Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730030, China, ⁵College of Grassland Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China, ⁶Grass and Science Institute of Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin 150086, China, ⁷State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China, ⁸School of Ecology and Environment, Ningxia University, Ningxia 750021, China, ⁹Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810001, China, ¹⁰Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Roots Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China, ¹¹Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands, ¹²School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA

^*Corresponding authors. E-mail: zhujt@igsnrr.ac.cn (J.Z.); wangch@ibcas.ac.cn (C.W.)

Received:2024-10-16 Accepted:2025-07-08 Published:2025-12-01
Supported by:
This work was supported by the National Key Research & Development Program of China (2022YFF1301801); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U20A2009, 41991234, 42077422, 42301061, 41725003); the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (STEP) program (2019QZKK0302); the Tibet key science and technology projects (XZ202101ZD0003N), the National Key Research & Development Program of China (2016YFC0501802); the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA20050102).

初始植物多样性调控草地稳定性对养分富集的响应

Abstract

Abstract: Nutrient enrichment can negatively impact the stability of various ecosystems. However, whether these impacts depend on biotic and abiotic factors, such as plant diversity and climate, remains unclear. Here, we investigated how climatic factors and plant diversity affected temporal stability of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) in responses to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) additions and its biotic mechanisms over 4 years across seven Chinese grasslands spanning a climatic gradient (mean annual temperature: −0.38 to 8.75 °C; annual precipitation: 134.60 to 462.40 mm). We showed that N and NP additions significantly reduced temporal stability of ANPP, while P addition marginally reduced the temporal stability of ANPP across all sites. Importantly, nutrient effects at each site were inconsistent and were closely related with sites with initial richness and temperature seasonality. The structural equation modeling clarified that N and P addition alone mainly decreased community stability via decreasing dominant species stability. Notably, sites with higher species richness exhibited lower stability of dominant species and lower community stability under N or P enrichment. Taken together, our results highlight that effect of nutrient amendment on the stability of grassland ecosystems depends on local plant diversity shaped by specific climatic factors. This understanding is crucial for effective grasslands management in the context of global environmental change.

Key words: ecosystem stability, grassland, nutrient enrichment, plant diversity, plant productivity

摘要：
养分富集会降低生态系统稳定性。然而，生物和非生物因素(如气候、植物多样性等)如何调控养分效应的程度，目前尚不明确。本研究依托中国7个跨越气候梯度的草地氮、磷养分添加试验平台(年平均温度：–0.38至8.75 °C；年降水量：134.60至462.40 mm)，通过地上净初级生产力连续4年的监测数据计算其时间稳定性，探究了气候因子和植物多样性对养分富集情境下生态系统稳定性的调控机制。研究发现，在所有样地中，氮添加和氮磷共同添加显著降低了生态系统稳定性，而单独添加磷对其影响较弱。然而，养分对不同样点的影响程度并不一致，主要与该样点初始物种丰富度和温度季节性密切相关：物种丰富度较高的样点，氮或磷富集对其优势种稳定性和群落稳定性的影响更大。进一步基于结构方程模型的分析结果显示，单独氮或磷添加主要通过降低优势种稳定性进而降低群落稳定性。上述结果表明，养分添加对草地生态系统稳定性的影响取决于不同地区的初始植物多样性，这一发现为全球环境变化背景下草地适应性管理提供重要启示。

关键词: 生态系统稳定性, 草地, 养分富集, 植物多样性, 植物生产力

Yunlong He, Yangjian Zhang, Juntao Zhu, Qiang Yu, Dashuan Tian, Xiaoan Zuo, Changhui Wang, Jielin Liu, Cunzheng Wei, Hui An, Fawei Zhang, Bo Zhang, Yann Hautier, Lin Jiang. Initial plant diversity modulates the effect of nutrient enrichment on grassland stability across a climate gradient in China[J]. J Plant Ecol, 2025, 18(6): 1-.

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Initial plant diversity modulates the effect of nutrient enrichment on grassland stability across a climate gradient in China

初始植物多样性调控草地稳定性对养分富集的响应

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