Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1111/ele.13894
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Title (Primary) Soil properties as key predictors of global grassland production: Have we overlooked micronutrients?
Author Radujković, D.; Verbruggen, E.; Seabloom, E.W.; Bahn, M.; Biederman, L.A.; Borer, E.T.; Boughton, E.H.; Catford, J.A.; Campioli, M.; Donohue, I.; Ebeling, A.; Eskelinen, A.; Fay, P.A.; Hansart, A.; Knops, J.M.H.; MacDougall, A.S.; Ohlert, T.; Venterink, H.O.; Raynaud, X.; Risch, A.C.; Roscher, C.; Schütz, M.; Silveira, M.L.; Stevens, C.J.; Van Sundert, K.; Virtanen, R.; Wardle, G.M.; Wragg, P.D.; Vicca, S.
Source Titel Ecology Letters
Year 2021
Department iDiv; PHYDIV
Volume 24
Issue 12
Page From 2713
Page To 2725
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Data and Software links https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5511661
Supplements https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fele.13894&file=ele13894-sup-0001-Supinfo.docx
Keywords biomass production; climate; grasslands; iron; micronutrients; N deposition; Nutrient Network (NutNet); soil properties; zinc
Abstract Fertilisation experiments have demonstrated that nutrient availability is a key determinant of biomass production and carbon sequestration in grasslands. However, the influence of nutrients in explaining spatial variation in grassland biomass production has rarely been assessed. Using a global dataset comprising 72 sites on six continents, we investigated which of 16 soil factors that shape nutrient availability associate most strongly with variation in grassland aboveground biomass. Climate and N deposition were also considered. Based on theory-driven structural equation modelling, we found that soil micronutrients (particularly Zn and Fe) were important predictors of biomass and, together with soil physicochemical properties and C:N, they explained more unique variation (32%) than climate and N deposition (24%). However, the association between micronutrients and biomass was absent in grasslands limited by NP. These results highlight soil properties as key predictors of global grassland biomass production and point to serial co-limitation by NP and micronutrients.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=25262
Radujković, D., Verbruggen, E., Seabloom, E.W., Bahn, M., Biederman, L.A., Borer, E.T., Boughton, E.H., Catford, J.A., Campioli, M., Donohue, I., Ebeling, A., Eskelinen, A., Fay, P.A., Hansart, A., Knops, J.M.H., MacDougall, A.S., Ohlert, T., Venterink, H.O., Raynaud, X., Risch, A.C., Roscher, C., Schütz, M., Silveira, M.L., Stevens, C.J., Van Sundert, K., Virtanen, R., Wardle, G.M., Wragg, P.D., Vicca, S. (2021):
Soil properties as key predictors of global grassland production: Have we overlooked micronutrients?
Ecol. Lett. 24 (12), 2713 - 2725 10.1111/ele.13894