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European Semiarid Mediterranean Ecosystems are Sensitive to Nitrogen Deposition: Impacts on Plant Communities and Root Phosphatase Activity

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Abstract

Nitrogen (N) deposition is predicted to impact on the structure and functioning of Mediterranean ecosystems. In this study, we measured plant species composition, production and root phosphatase activity in a field experiment in which N (0, 10, 20 and 50 kg N ha−1 year−1) was added since October 2007 to a semiarid shrubland in central Spain. The characteristically dominant annual forb element responded negatively to N after ~2.5 and ~3.5 years. In contrast, the nitrophilous element (mainly crucifers) increased with N after ~2.5 and ~5.5 years, a response controlled by between-year variations in rainfall and the heterogeneous distribution of P availability. We also described a hierarchy of factors driving the structure and composition of the plant community: soil fertility was the most important driver, whereas calcareousness/acidity of soils and shrub cover played a secondary role; finally, N deposition contributed to explain a smaller fraction of the total variance, and its effects were predominantly negative, which was attributed to ammonium toxicity. Root phosphatase activity of three species was not responsive to N after ~2.5 years but there was a negative relationship with soil P in two of them. We conclude that increased N deposition in semiarid Mediterranean ecosystems of Europe can contribute to cause a shift in plant communities associated with an increase in the nitrophilous element and with a decline in abundance of various forb species adapted to the local conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (CGL-2009-11015 and REMEDINAL-2 S2009/AMB-1783). ROH was also funded by an FPU fellowship (AP2006-04638). CJS was funded by a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, the European Science Foundation Nitrogen in Europe programme and the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund. We are very thankful to Octavio Cedenilla, Daniel de la Puente, Cristina Paradela and Christopher Long for helping with the lab and field work. Prof. Alfredo Polo and Dr. J.C. García-Gil are thanked for kindly allowing us to use their spectrophotometer and enzyme substrates. Dr. Jason Kaye provided helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. Finally, we want to specially mention Prof. Esteban Manrique and Dr. M. Esther Pérez-Corona for their personal involvement within this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia

    Raúl Ochoa-Hueso

  2. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, C/Serrano 115 dpdo., 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Raúl Ochoa-Hueso

  3. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK

    Carly J. Stevens

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  1. Raúl Ochoa-Hueso
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Correspondence to Raúl Ochoa-Hueso.

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Ochoa-Hueso, R., Stevens, C.J. European Semiarid Mediterranean Ecosystems are Sensitive to Nitrogen Deposition: Impacts on Plant Communities and Root Phosphatase Activity. Water Air Soil Pollut 226, 5 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-2278-1

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