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Long-term nutrient enrichment differentially affects investment in sexual reproduction in four boreal forest understory species

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Abstract

The combustion of fossil fuels and associated warmer temperatures are causing a global increase in the availability of soil nutrients such as nitrogen. This will have pronounced effects on plants at northern latitudes that are adapted to low nutrient conditions. An experiment in northern Canada set up in 1990 has investigated the effects of long-term nutrient enrichment (fertilizer addition) and mammalian herbivore exclusion (fencing) on an understory plant community. We used this experiment to assess how 22 years of fertilization has affected investment in sexual reproduction in four herbaceous understory species. We measured reproductive output at the plot level (proportion of plants flowering) for four species (Mertensia paniculata, Epilobium angustifolium, Achillea millefolium and Festuca altaica) and at the individual plant level (biomass allocation to flower parts) for M. paniculata and E. angustifolium. Fertilization increased the probability of flowering for A. millefolium and resulted in a higher allocation of biomass to flower parts for E. angustifolium. Sexual reproduction in M. paniculata and F. altaica was largely unaffected by increased nutrient supply, and, as expected, herbivore exclusion had almost no effect on any species. Whereas plants in northern ecosystems currently reproduce mainly through clonal growth, rapidly changing environmental conditions and warmer temperatures will likely result in increased benefits of sexual reproduction. This could give a competitive advantage to species such as A. millefolium and E. angustifolium that increase investment in sexual reproduction when released from nutrient limitation.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies and the Northern Scientific Training Program. We would also like to thank the staff at Kluane Lake Research Station, Douglas Curley, De Wet van Niekerk and Jennie McLaren for their invaluable assistance. We are grateful to the Kluane and Champagne-Aishihik First Nations for allowing us to do research on their traditional lands.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Botany Department and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Tess Nahanni Grainger & Roy Turkington

  2. Botany Department, University of British Columbia, Room #3529, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Tess Nahanni Grainger

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  1. Tess Nahanni Grainger
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  2. Roy Turkington
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Correspondence to Tess Nahanni Grainger.

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Grainger, T.N., Turkington, R. Long-term nutrient enrichment differentially affects investment in sexual reproduction in four boreal forest understory species. Plant Ecol 214, 1017–1026 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-013-0227-5

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