Slow recovery of High Arctic heath communities from nitrogen enrichment

Lorna E. Street; Nancy R. Burns; Sarah J. Woodin

doi:10.1111/nph.13265

Slow recovery of High Arctic heath communities from nitrogen enrichment

Lorna E. Street, Nancy R. Burns, Sarah J. Woodin

Aberdeen Centre For Environmental Sustainability

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Abstract

Summary

•Arctic ecosystems are strongly nutrient limited and exhibit dramatic responses to nitrogen (N) enrichment, the reversibility of which is unknown. This study uniquely assesses the potential for tundra heath to recover from N deposition and the influence of phosphorus (P) availability on recovery.
•We revisited an experiment in Svalbard, established in 1991, in which N was applied at rates representing atmospheric N deposition in Europe (10 and 50 kg N ha−1 yr−1; ‘low’ and ‘high’, respectively) for 3–8 yr. We investigated whether significant effects on vegetation composition and ecosystem nutrient status persisted up to 18 yr post-treatment.
•Although the tundra heath is no longer N saturated, N treatment effects persist and are strongly P-dependent. Vegetation was more resilient to N where no P was added, although shrub cover is still reduced in low-N plots. Where P was also added (5 kg P ha−1 yr−1), there are still effects of low N on community composition and nutrient dynamics. High N, with and without P, has many lasting impacts. Importantly, N + P has caused dramatically increased moss abundance, which influences nutrient dynamics.
•Our key finding is that Arctic ecosystems are slow to recover from even small N inputs, particularly where P is not limiting.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	682-695
Number of pages	14
Journal	New Phytologist
Volume	206
Issue number	2
Early online date	19 Jan 2015
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.13265
Publication status	Published - Apr 2015

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Ian Alexander who initiated the fertilisation experiment with SJW; to successive researchers involved in the experiment, John Baddeley, Nanette Madan, Lars Hogbom, Bernard Moyersen, Carmen Gordon; and to field assistants, Alison Horsburgh, Andrew Coughlan, Jo Wynn, Lora Crabtree. We thank Hans Kruijer and Michael Stech for assistance with bryophyte species identification in 2011. Funding for the initial experiment was provided by the NERC Arctic Terrestrial Ecology Special Topic Programme (GR3/9424,
GR9/3433) with additional support from the CEC TMR Programme, Ny-Ålesund LSF and the British Ecological Society. This recovery study was funded by NERC (NE/I016899/1). The research was made possible by use of NERC facilities at Harland Huset; special thanks to Nick Cox and colleagues for their unfailing hospitality and support.

Keywords

bryophytes
critical load
nitrogen (N) deposition
phosphorus (P)
recovery
tundra
winter injury

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10.1111/nph.13265Licence: CC BY

Woodin_final
This is the accepted version of the following article: Street, LE, Burns, NR & Woodin, SJ 2015, 'Slow recovery of High Arctic heath communities from nitrogen enrichment' New Phytologist, vol 206, no. 2, pp. 682-695., which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.13265/abstract
Accepted author manuscript, 229 KB
Woodin_FIGS_REVISEDAccepted author manuscript, 990 KB

Soil and vegetation parameters from re-visitation of fertilisation experiment at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard
Woodin, S. J. (Creator), Street, L. E. (Creator) & Paton, G. (Other), British Antartic Survey, 16 Dec 2016
DOI: 10.5285/0fdd7082-5fbc-4923-b166-d7adcb9c170f, https://ramadda.data.bas.ac.uk/repository/entry/show/?entryid=0fdd7082-5fbc-4923-b166-d7adcb9c170f and one more link, http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/ (show fewer)
Dataset

Cite this

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abstract = "Summary•Arctic ecosystems are strongly nutrient limited and exhibit dramatic responses to nitrogen (N) enrichment, the reversibility of which is unknown. This study uniquely assesses the potential for tundra heath to recover from N deposition and the influence of phosphorus (P) availability on recovery.•We revisited an experiment in Svalbard, established in 1991, in which N was applied at rates representing atmospheric N deposition in Europe (10 and 50 kg N ha−1 yr−1; {\textquoteleft}low{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}high{\textquoteright}, respectively) for 3–8 yr. We investigated whether significant effects on vegetation composition and ecosystem nutrient status persisted up to 18 yr post-treatment.•Although the tundra heath is no longer N saturated, N treatment effects persist and are strongly P-dependent. Vegetation was more resilient to N where no P was added, although shrub cover is still reduced in low-N plots. Where P was also added (5 kg P ha−1 yr−1), there are still effects of low N on community composition and nutrient dynamics. High N, with and without P, has many lasting impacts. Importantly, N + P has caused dramatically increased moss abundance, which influences nutrient dynamics.•Our key finding is that Arctic ecosystems are slow to recover from even small N inputs, particularly where P is not limiting.",

keywords = "bryophytes, critical load, nitrogen (N) deposition, phosphorus (P), recovery, tundra, winter injury",

author = "Street, {Lorna E.} and Burns, {Nancy R.} and Woodin, {Sarah J.}",

note = "Acknowledgements We are indebted to Ian Alexander who initiated the fertilisation experiment with SJW; to successive researchers involved in the experiment, John Baddeley, Nanette Madan, Lars Hogbom, Bernard Moyersen, Carmen Gordon; and to field assistants, Alison Horsburgh, Andrew Coughlan, Jo Wynn, Lora Crabtree. We thank Hans Kruijer and Michael Stech for assistance with bryophyte species identification in 2011. Funding for the initial experiment was provided by the NERC Arctic Terrestrial Ecology Special Topic Programme (GR3/9424, GR9/3433) with additional support from the CEC TMR Programme, Ny-{\AA}lesund LSF and the British Ecological Society. This recovery study was funded by NERC (NE/I016899/1). The research was made possible by use of NERC facilities at Harland Huset; special thanks to Nick Cox and colleagues for their unfailing hospitality and support. ",

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AU - Street, Lorna E.

AU - Burns, Nancy R.

AU - Woodin, Sarah J.

N1 - Acknowledgements We are indebted to Ian Alexander who initiated the fertilisation experiment with SJW; to successive researchers involved in the experiment, John Baddeley, Nanette Madan, Lars Hogbom, Bernard Moyersen, Carmen Gordon; and to field assistants, Alison Horsburgh, Andrew Coughlan, Jo Wynn, Lora Crabtree. We thank Hans Kruijer and Michael Stech for assistance with bryophyte species identification in 2011. Funding for the initial experiment was provided by the NERC Arctic Terrestrial Ecology Special Topic Programme (GR3/9424, GR9/3433) with additional support from the CEC TMR Programme, Ny-Ålesund LSF and the British Ecological Society. This recovery study was funded by NERC (NE/I016899/1). The research was made possible by use of NERC facilities at Harland Huset; special thanks to Nick Cox and colleagues for their unfailing hospitality and support.

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N2 - Summary•Arctic ecosystems are strongly nutrient limited and exhibit dramatic responses to nitrogen (N) enrichment, the reversibility of which is unknown. This study uniquely assesses the potential for tundra heath to recover from N deposition and the influence of phosphorus (P) availability on recovery.•We revisited an experiment in Svalbard, established in 1991, in which N was applied at rates representing atmospheric N deposition in Europe (10 and 50 kg N ha−1 yr−1; ‘low’ and ‘high’, respectively) for 3–8 yr. We investigated whether significant effects on vegetation composition and ecosystem nutrient status persisted up to 18 yr post-treatment.•Although the tundra heath is no longer N saturated, N treatment effects persist and are strongly P-dependent. Vegetation was more resilient to N where no P was added, although shrub cover is still reduced in low-N plots. Where P was also added (5 kg P ha−1 yr−1), there are still effects of low N on community composition and nutrient dynamics. High N, with and without P, has many lasting impacts. Importantly, N + P has caused dramatically increased moss abundance, which influences nutrient dynamics.•Our key finding is that Arctic ecosystems are slow to recover from even small N inputs, particularly where P is not limiting.

AB - Summary•Arctic ecosystems are strongly nutrient limited and exhibit dramatic responses to nitrogen (N) enrichment, the reversibility of which is unknown. This study uniquely assesses the potential for tundra heath to recover from N deposition and the influence of phosphorus (P) availability on recovery.•We revisited an experiment in Svalbard, established in 1991, in which N was applied at rates representing atmospheric N deposition in Europe (10 and 50 kg N ha−1 yr−1; ‘low’ and ‘high’, respectively) for 3–8 yr. We investigated whether significant effects on vegetation composition and ecosystem nutrient status persisted up to 18 yr post-treatment.•Although the tundra heath is no longer N saturated, N treatment effects persist and are strongly P-dependent. Vegetation was more resilient to N where no P was added, although shrub cover is still reduced in low-N plots. Where P was also added (5 kg P ha−1 yr−1), there are still effects of low N on community composition and nutrient dynamics. High N, with and without P, has many lasting impacts. Importantly, N + P has caused dramatically increased moss abundance, which influences nutrient dynamics.•Our key finding is that Arctic ecosystems are slow to recover from even small N inputs, particularly where P is not limiting.

KW - bryophytes

KW - critical load

KW - nitrogen (N) deposition

KW - phosphorus (P)

KW - recovery

KW - tundra

KW - winter injury

U2 - 10.1111/nph.13265

DO - 10.1111/nph.13265

M3 - Article

SN - 0028-646X

VL - 206

SP - 682

EP - 695

JO - New Phytologist

JF - New Phytologist

IS - 2

ER -

Slow recovery of High Arctic heath communities from nitrogen enrichment

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Datasets

Soil and vegetation parameters from re-visitation of fertilisation experiment at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard

Cite this