Climate modifies response of non-native and native species richness to nutrient enrichment.
Ecosystem eutrophication often increases domination by non-natives and causes displacement of native taxa. However, variation in environmental conditions may affect the outcome of interactions between native and non-native taxa in environments where nutrient supply is elevated. We examined the interactive effects of eutrophication, climate variability and climate average conditions on the success of native and non-native plant species using experimental nutrient manipulations replicated at 32 grassland sites on four continents. We hypothesized that effects of nutrient addition would be greatest where climate was stable and benign, owing to reduced niche partitioning. We found that the abundance of non-native species increased with nutrient addition independent of climate; however, nutrient addition increased non-native species richness and decreased native species richness, with these effects dampened in warmer or wetter sites. Eutrophication also altered the time scale in which grassland invasion responded to climate, decreasing the importance of long-term climate and increasing that of annual climate. Thus, climatic conditions mediate the responses of native and non-native flora to nutrient enrichment. Our results suggest that the negative effect of nutrient addition on native abundance is decoupled from its effect on richness, and reduces the time scale of the links between climate and compositional change.
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN 55108, USA Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN 55108, USA hfloresm@umn.edu.
Habacuc
H
Flores-Moreno
Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN 55108, USA Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales 2751, Australia.
Peter B
PB
Reich
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN 55108, USA.
Eric M
EM
Lind
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN 55108, USA.
Lauren L
LL
Sullivan
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN 55108, USA.
Eric W
EW
Seabloom
IFEVA-CONICET and Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1417 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Laura
L
Yahdjian
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.
Andrew S
AS
MacDougall
USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple, TX, TX 76502, USA.
Lara G
LG
Reichmann
Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata 7600, Argentina.
Juan
J
Alberti
Consorcio para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Ecoregión Andina (CONDESAN), Quito, Ecuador.
Selene
S
Báez
School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Jonathan D
JD
Bakker
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto-Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1C 2M2.
Marc W
MW
Cadotte
Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal.
Maria C
MC
Caldeira
IFEVA-CONICET and Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1417 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Enrique J
EJ
Chaneton
Environmental Studies Program, University of CA, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Carla M
CM
D'Antonio
USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple, TX, TX 76502, USA.
Philip A
PA
Fay
School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.
Jennifer
J
Firn
School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Nicole
N
Hagenah
Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research-UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108 Halle (Saale), Germany.
W Stanley
WS
Harpole
Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata 7600, Argentina.
Oscar
O
Iribarne
School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Kevin P
KP
Kirkman
School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
Johannes M H
JM
Knops
Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Kimberly J
KJ
La Pierre
Biology Department, Doane College, Crete, NE 68333, USA.
Ramesh
R
Laungani
Department of Plant Biology and Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Andrew D B
AD
Leakey
Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-0091, USA.
Rebecca L
RL
McCulley
School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia.
Joslin L
JL
Moore
Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata 7600, Argentina.
Jesus
J
Pascual
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN 55108, USA.
Elizabeth T
ET
Borer
D058448:Biota / Q000502:physiology*; D002980:Climate; D057231:Climate Change; D005068:Eutrophication; D065948:Grassland; D058865:Introduced Species; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000378:metabolism; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D011188:Potassium / Q000378:metabolism
D018977:Micronutrients; D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen; D011188:Potassium
NutNet; climate variability; non-native species; nutrient enrichment; species abundance; species richness