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Effects of nutrient addition and soil drainage on germination of N-fixing and non-N-fixing tropical dry forest tree species

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Abstract

To develop generalised predictions regarding the effects of atmospheric nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deposition on vegetation communities, it is necessary to account for the impacts of increased nutrient availability on the early life history stages of plants. Additionally, it is important to determine if these responses (a) differ between plant functional groups and (b) are modulated by soil drainage, which may affect the persistence of added nutrients. We experimentally assessed seed germination responses (germination proportion and germination energy, i.e. time to germination) of commonly occurring N-fixing and non-N-fixing tropical dry forest tree species found in India to simulated N and P deposition in well-drained soils, as well as soils with impeded drainage. When soils were not allowed to drain, germination proportion declined with nutrient addition, while germination energy remained unchanged. Stronger declines in germination proportion were observed for N-fixing species. In free-draining soils, nutrient addition did not affect germination proportion in either functional group. However, we detected a trend of delayed germination with nutrient addition, especially in N-fixers. Our results suggest that nutrient deposition can lead to potential shifts in functional dominance and tree community composition of tropical dry forests in the long term through its effects on early life stages of trees, although the mechanisms underlying the observed germination responses remain unclear. Further, such effects are likely to be spatially variable across the geographic range in which tropical dry forests occur depending on soil drainage properties.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Bharath Sundaram, Jayashree Ratnam, Kavita Isvaran and Suhel Quader for inputs during development of the study. We also wish to thank Amruta Varudkar, Chengappa S. K., Dayani Chakravarthy, Dhruv Raina, Dina Raquinha, Harinandanan P. V., Lalitha Krishnan, Mahantesha Naika B. N., Manjunatha H. C, Meghana Natesh, Mehrab Modi, Nandita Natraj, Odbayar Tumendemberel, Prashant Shingate, Preeti Kute, Rashmi Jejurikar, Rutuja Dhamale, Saurabh Mahajan, Shrey Madeka, Sreekrishna Rajavarma, Somya Mani and Vijay S Kumar who volunteered time to set up the experiments, as well as Fiona Savory, Krishnapriya Tamma, Mayank Kohli and Yadugiri V. T. who contributed to the data collection. We acknowledge Suresh Forestry Network for advice and supply of seeds used in this experiment and the National Centre for Biological Sciences for funding this work. This manuscript was greatly improved by comments from Anand M Osuri, Fiona Savory, Kavita Isvaran, Sumanta Bagchi, Yadugiri V. T. and two anonymous reviewers.

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  1. Ecology and Evolution Group, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), GKVK Campus, Bellary Road, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560 065, India

    Varun Varma, Siddharth B. Iyengar & Mahesh Sankaran

  2. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour, University of Minnesota, 1987, Upper Buford Circle, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Siddharth B. Iyengar

  3. Faculty of Biological Sciences, School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Mahesh Sankaran

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  1. Varun Varma
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Correspondence to Varun Varma.

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Communicated by Katinka Ruthrof.

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Varma, V., Iyengar, S.B. & Sankaran, M. Effects of nutrient addition and soil drainage on germination of N-fixing and non-N-fixing tropical dry forest tree species. Plant Ecol 217, 1043–1054 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-016-0630-9

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