Authors: Yongwen Liu XuRi Xingliang Xu Da Wei Yinghong Wang Yuesi Wang
Publish Date: 2013/07/03
Volume: 373, Issue: 1-2, Pages: 515-529
Abstract
At the vegetation level N addition resulted in an increase in the aboveground N pool from 05 ± 01 g m−2 in the control plots to 19 ± 02 g m−2 in the plots at the highest N input rate The aboveground C pool biomass N concentration foliar δ15N soil NO3 −N and N2O flux were also increased by N addition However as the N fertilization rate increased from 10 kg N ha−1 yr−1 to 160 kg N ha−1 yr−1 the Nuse efficiency decreased from 123 ± 46 kg C kg N−1 to 16 ± 02 kg C kg N−1 and the Nuptake efficiency decreased from 432 ± 97 to 91 ± 11 Biomass NP ratios increased from 144 ± 26 in the control plots to 205 ± 08 in the plots with the highest N input rate Biomass NP ratios Nuptake efficiency and Nuse efficiency flattened out at 40 kg N ha−1 yr−1 Above this level soil NO3 −N began to accumulate The seasonal average N2O flux of growing season nonlinearly increased with increased N fertilization rate and linearly increased with the weighted average foliar δ15NAt the species level N uptake responses to relative N availability were speciesspecific Biomass N concentration of seven out of the eight nonlegume species increased significantly with N fertilization rates while Kobresia macrantha and the one legume species Oxytropics glacialis remained stable Both the nonlegume and the legume species showed significant 15N enrichment with increasing N fertilization rate All nonlegume species showed significant increased NP ratios with increased N fertilization rate but not the legume speciesOur findings suggest that the Tibetan alpine steppes might be Nsaturated above a critical N load of 40 kg N ha−1 yr−1 For the entire Tibetan Plateau ca 257 million km2 a low N deposition rate 10 kg N ha−1 yr−1 could enhance plant growth and stimulate aboveground N and C storage by at least 11 ± 03 Tg N yr−1 and 315 ± 118 Tg C yr−1 respectively The nonlegume species was Nlimited but the legume species was not limited by NThe authors would like to thank members of the Nam Co Monitoring and Research Station for Multisphere Interactions and Shan Lu for their assistance in the field as well as Dongxue Dai and Tenzin Tarchen for their assistance in the lab We are also grateful to Tianxiang Luo and the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on this manuscript This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research ProgramClimate Change Carbon Budget and Related Issues of the Chinese Academy of Sciences XDA0505040432 XDA05020402 and by the National Natural Scientific Foundation of China 40605032 40975096 41175128
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