September 19, 2024
Journal Article

Nitrogen Availability and Summer Drought, but not N:P Imbalance Drive Carbon Use Efficiency of a Mediterranean Tree-Grass Ecosystem

Abstract

All ecosystems are simultaneously a source and a sink of atmospheric carbon (C). A change in their balance of net and gross 20 ecosystem carbon uptake, ecosystem-scale carbon use efficiency (CUEECO), is a change in their ability to buffer climate change. Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition is increasing N availability, potentially shifting terrestrial ecosystem stoichiometry towards phosphorus (P) limitation. Depending on how gross primary production (GPP, plants alone) and ecosystem respiration (RECO, plants and heterotrophs) are limited by N, P, or associated changes in other biogeochemical cycles, 25 CUEECO may change. Seasonally, CUEECO also varies as GPP is more coupled to the growing season than respiration. We worked in a Mediterranean tree-grass ecosystem (locally called ‘dehesa’) characterized by mild, wet winters and summer droughts. We examined CUEECO from eddy covariance fluxes over six years under control, +N and +NP fertilized treatments on three timescales: annual, seasonal (determined by vegetation phenophase) and two-weekly aggregations. Finer aggregation allowed consideration of responses to specific vegetation and meteorological conditions. We predicted that 30 CUEECO should be increased by wetter conditions, and by NP fertilization. Milder and wetter years with proportionally longer growing seasons increased CUEECO, as did N fertilization, regardless of whether P was added. Using a generalized additive model, whole ecosystem vegetation status and water deficit indicators, which both varied with treatment, were the main determinants of biweekly differences in CUEECO. The direction of water effects depended on the timescale considered and occurred alongside treatment-dependent water depletion.

Published: September 19, 2024

Citation

Nair R., Y. Luo, T.S. El-Madany, V. Rolo, J. Pacheco-Labrador, S. Caldararu, and K.A. Morris, et al. 2024. Nitrogen Availability and Summer Drought, but not N:P Imbalance Drive Carbon Use Efficiency of a Mediterranean Tree-Grass Ecosystem. Global Change Biology 30, no. 9:Art. No. e17486. PNNL-SA-193215. doi:10.1111/gcb.17486

Research topics