Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Positive interactions between nitrogen-fixing legumes and four different neighbouring species in a biodiversity experiment
Oecologia, Volume 151, No. 2, Year 2007
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
The importance of facilitative processes due to the presence of nitrogen-fixing legumes in temperate grasslands is a contentious issue in biodiversity experiments. Despite a multitude of studies of fertilization effects of legumes on associated nonfixers in agricultural systems, we know little about the dynamics in more diverse systems. We hypothesised that the identity ofrget plant species (phytometers) and the diversity of neighbouring plant species would affect the magnitude of such positive species interactions. We therefore sampled aboveground tissues of phytometers planted into all plots of a grassland biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiment and analysed their N concentrations, δ15N values and biomasses. The four phytometer species (Festuca pratensis, Plantago lanceolata, Knautia arvensis and Trifolium pratensis) each belonged to one of the four plant functional groups used in the experiment and allowed the effects of diversity on N dynamics in individual species to be assessed. We found significantly lower δ15N values and higher N concentrations and N contents (amount of N per plant) in phytometer species growing with legumes, indicating a facilitative role for legumes in these grassland ecosystems. Our data suggest that the main driving force behind these facilitative interactions in plots containing legumes was reduced competition for soil nitrate ("nitrate sparing"), with apparent N transfer playing a secondary role. Interestingly, species richness (and to a lesser extent functional group number) significantly decreased δ15N values, N concentrations and N content irrespective of any legume effect. Possible mechanisms behind this effect, such as increased N mineralisation and nitrate uptake in more diverse plots, now need further investigation. The magnitude of the positive interactions depended on the identity of the phytometer species. Evidence for increased N uptake in communities containing legumes was found in all three nonlegume phytometer species, with a subsequent strong increase in biomass in the grass F. pratensis across all diversity levels, and a lesser biomass gain in P. lanceolata and K. arvensis. In contrast, the legume phytometer species T. pratense was negatively affected when other legumes were present in their host communities across all diversity levels. © 2006 Springer-Verlag.
Authors & Co-Authors
Temperton, Vicky M.
Germany, Jena
Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
Germany, Julich
Forschungszentrum Jülich Gmbh
Mwangi, Peter Njoroge
Germany, Jena
Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
Germany, Jena
Friedrich-schiller-universität Jena
Switzerland, Zurich
Universität Zürich
Kenya, Nairobi
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael
Germany, Jena
Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
Switzerland, Zurich
Eth Zürich
Schmid, Bernhard
Switzerland, Zurich
Universität Zürich
Buchmann, Nina
Germany, Jena
Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
Switzerland, Zurich
Eth Zürich
Statistics
Citations: 315
Authors: 5
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1007/s00442-006-0576-z
ISSN:
00298549
Study Approach
Quantitative