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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Aridity Modulates N Availability in Arid and Semiarid Mediterranean Grasslands
PLoS ONE, Volume 8, No. 4, Article e59807, Year 2013
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Description
While much is known about the factors that control each component of the terrestrial nitrogen (N) cycle, it is less clear how these factors affect total N availability, the sum of organic and inorganic forms potentially available to microorganisms and plants. This is particularly true for N-poor ecosystems such as drylands, which are highly sensitive to climate change and desertification processes that can lead to the loss of soil nutrients such as N. We evaluated how different climatic, abiotic, plant and nutrient related factors correlate with N availability in semiarid Stipa tenacissima grasslands along a broad aridity gradient from Spain to Tunisia. Aridity had the strongest relationship with N availability, suggesting the importance of abiotic controls on the N cycle in drylands. Aridity appeared to modulate the effects of pH, plant cover and organic C (OC) on N availability. Our results suggest that N transformation rates, which are largely driven by variations in soil moisture, are not the direct drivers of N availability in the studied grasslands. Rather, the strong relationship between aridity and N availability could be driven by indirect effects that operate over long time scales (decades to millennia), including both biotic (e.g. plant cover) and abiotic (e.g. soil OC and pH). If these factors are in fact more important than short-term effects of precipitation on N transformation rates, then we might expect to observe a lagged decrease in N availability in response to increasing aridity. Nevertheless, our results suggest that the increase in aridity predicted with ongoing climate change will reduce N availability in the Mediterranean basin, impacting plant nutrient uptake and net primary production in semiarid grasslands throughout this region. © 2013 Delgado-Baquerizo et al.
Available Materials
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3614980/bin/pone.0059807.s001.doc
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3614980/bin/pone.0059807.s002.doc
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3614980/bin/pone.0059807.s003.doc
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3614980/bin/pone.0059807.s004.doc
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3614980/bin/pone.0059807.s005.doc
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3614980/bin/pone.0059807.s006.doc
Authors & Co-Authors
Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel
Spain, Sevilla
Universidad Pablo de Olavide, de Sevilla
Maestre, Fernando T.
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Gallardo, Antonio
Spain, Sevilla
Universidad Pablo de Olavide, de Sevilla
Quero, José Luis
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Spain, Cordoba
Departamento de Ingeniería Forestal
Ochoa, Victoria Elena Meza
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
García-Gómez, Miguel
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Escolar, Cristina
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
García-Palacios, Pablo
United States, Fort Collins
Colorado State University
Berdugo, Miguel
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Valencia, Enrique
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Gozalo, Beatriz
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Noumi, Zouhaier
Tunisia, Sfax
University of Sfax
Derak, Mchich
Morocco, Tetuan
Direction Regionale Des Eaux et Forets et de la Lutte Contre la Desertification du Rif
Wallenstein, Matthew David
United States, Fort Collins
Colorado State University
Statistics
Citations: 46
Authors: 14
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0059807
e-ISSN:
19326203
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Locations
Tunisia