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Rising CO2 accelerates phosphorus and molybdenum limitation of N2-fixation in young tropical trees

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Abstract

Background and aims

Nitrogen fixation may be critical for supplying the nitrogen (N) needed to maintain the tropical carbon sink in a world of rising atmospheric CO2. However, we do not know whether increased CO2 acts to exacerbate nutrient limitation on the fixation process itself. We experimentally test this idea by growing N2-fixing plants in pre-Industrial (280 ppm), present-day (400 ppm), and doubled (800 ppm) atmospheric CO2.

Methods

In a greenhouse experiment, we grew tree seedlings from N2-fixing species and a non-fixing species at three CO2 concentrations with control, +P (phosphorus), +Mo (molybdenum), and + P +Mo nutrient treatments.

Results

We found nutrient limitation to be minimal at pre-Industrial CO2, but with increasing CO2 fixer growth and fixation became increasingly limited by P and by a P-by-Mo interaction. At 400 ppm, plants with +P grew ~50% faster and fixed 10-15× more N2 based on nodule mass and nitrogenase activity. At 800 ppm, plants with +P +Mo grew 200% more, and fixed 25× more N2, suggesting Mo-P co-limitation at elevated CO2.

Conclusion

Our findings imply that complex patterns of nutrient limitation can develop as CO2 rises, potentially suppressing tropical N2-fixation and the new inputs of N needed to sustain the tropical carbon sink.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Jorge Aranda, Jose Salas, Aurelio Virgo, Ben Turner, David Roubik, Jack Burdette, Cleo Chou, Andrew Budnick, and Eskender McCoy for assistance with plant growth and the harvests. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (GRFP), Walbridge Fellowship, Princeton Energy and Climate Scholars, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. A.M.T. was recipient of a Smithsonian Short-Term Fellowship.

Data accessibility

Data available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.07nd0hc

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Author notes

  1. Annette M. Trierweiler

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    Annette M. Trierweiler & Lars O. Hedin

  2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa , Ancon, Republic of Panama

    Klaus Winter

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Contributions

A.M.T., K.W. and L.O.H. designed the research. A.M.T. and K.W. performed the experiment. A.M.T. analyzed the data. A.M.T. and L.O.H. drafted the paper with all authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Annette M. Trierweiler.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Euan K. James.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplemental Fig. 1

Nutrient response ratios of two nitrogen fixing species, Ormosia macrocalyx and Inga marginata. Biomass ratio of nutrient treatments to baseline versus fixation ratios of nutrient treatments compared to the baseline. The baseline is the nutrient treatment without addition P or Mo where each point is the ratio of the means for each given CO2 level with the error bars representing 1 s.e.m. Ormosia is represented by circles as the Inga is represented by triangles. The direction of the colored arrows represents increasing CO2 for Inga.. The reference lines at x=1 (vertical) and y=1 represents (horizontal) the baseline performance of the control forest soil treatment for both species. Points, which fall along this line, mean that plants with the added nutrient performed as well as those without that nutrient. For points to fall left of the x=1 reference line (biomass growth) or above the y=1 line (for nitrogen fixation), the nutrient treatment enhanced growth or fixation by that ratio more than the control growth or fixation. (PDF 120 kb)

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Trierweiler, A.M., Winter, K. & Hedin, L.O. Rising CO2 accelerates phosphorus and molybdenum limitation of N2-fixation in young tropical trees. Plant Soil 429, 363–373 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3685-7

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