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Grazing modifies inorganic and organic nitrogen uptake by coexisting plant species in alpine grassland

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Abstract

To study how grazing affects the uptake of inorganic and organic N forms, three focal plant species (i.e., the graminoid species Kobresia pygmaea, which decreases with grazing, and the forbs Potentilla bifurca and Potentilla multifida, which increase with grazing) were selected in ungrazed and grazed plots in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau. Three times during the growing season (i.e., June, July, and September), these plots were injected with 15N-labeled NO3 −-N, NH4 +-N, or glycine-N, or with only water as a control. Two hours after 15N injection, exchangeable NH4 +-N, glycine-N, and NO3 −-N as well as plant and soil samples were collected and analyzed for 15N/14N and total N content. Our result showed that all three plant species took up glycine-N, but uptake of inorganic N was generally predominant. The graminoid K. pygmaea took up all three N forms equally in June but preferred NO3 −-N in July (particularly under grazing) and exchangeable NH4 +-N in September. The forbs P. bifurca and P. multifida preferentially took up exchangeable NH4 +-N in July (particularly under grazing), while NO3 −-N was the dominant form of N uptake in September. P. bifurca generally preferred exchangeable NH4 +-N, but preference shifted toward NO3 −-N under grazing in June. P. multifida preferred glycine-N in ungrazed plots and shifted its preference to NO3 −-N under grazing in June. In conclusion, the three plant species showed niche partitioning for uptake of three forms of N across the season, which was modified by grazing. These findings indicate that plant N uptake patterns should be considered for better understanding the mechanisms of grazing effects on plant diversity and species coexistence.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation of China (41230750, 41301600), the National Basic Research Program (2013CB956000), and the Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB03030403).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Lili Jiang, Shiping Wang & Changshun Wang

  2. Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Shiping Wang

  3. Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Xingliang Xu

  4. College of Life Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Zhe Pang & Yanfen Wang

  5. Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83, Umeå, Sweden

    Paul Kardol

  6. Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Brisbane, 4111, Australia

    Xiaoqi Zhou

  7. Soil Biology and Molecular Ecology Lab, School of Earth and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Yichao Rui

  8. Center for Watershed Ecology, Institute of Life Sciences, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    Zhi chun Lan

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  1. Lili Jiang
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Correspondence to Lili Jiang.

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Jiang, L., Wang, S., Pang, Z. et al. Grazing modifies inorganic and organic nitrogen uptake by coexisting plant species in alpine grassland. Biol Fertil Soils 52, 211–221 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-015-1069-1

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