The relative and combined effects of herbivore assemblage and soil nitrogen on plant diversity

Plant diversity can be affected by both herbivore grazing and soil resources. However, it is unclear if the joint effects of herbivores and soil resources might vary with components of plant diversity. Here, we evaluated the relative and combined effects of herbivore assemblage and soil nitrogen(N) quantity and heterogeneity on the α and β components of plant diversity in a grassland that was subjected to four years of grazing under differing herbivore assemblages(no grazing, cattle grazing, sheep grazing, and mixed grazing). We found that herbivore assemblage combined with soil N quantity explained 41% of the variation in plant α-diversity, while herbivore assemblage combined with soil N heterogeneity explained 15% of the variation in plant β-diversity. The independent effects of herbivore assemblage explained more than those of soil N for both α-and β-diversity(α-diversity: 12% vs. 4%;β-diversity: 18% vs. 16%). We concluded that the effects of herbivores are stronger than those of soil N,and that grazing-induced changes in soil resources are important drivers of plant diversity change, especially α-diversity.Therefore, we suggest that managing herbivore species by accounting for the effects that their grazing can have on soil resources may be significant for plant diversity maintenance.

Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Rice Under Cadmium Contamination:Influence of Rice Cultivar Versus Soil Type

There is a need for rice cultivars with high yields and nitrogen(N) use efficiency(NUE), but with low cadmium(Cd) accumulation in Cd-contaminated paddy soils.To determine the relative effects of rice genotype, soil type, and Cd addition on rice grain yield and NUE, a pot experiment consisting of nine rice cultivars was conducted in two types of paddy soils, red soil(RS) and yellow soil(YS),without or with Cd spiked at 0.6 mg kg^(-1).The N supply was from both soil organic N pools and N fertilizers; thus, NUE was defined as the grain yield per unit of total crop-available N in the soil.Cd addition decreased grain yield and NUE in most rice cultivars,which was mainly related to reduced N uptake efficiency(NpUE, defined as the percentage of N taken up by the crop per unit of soil available N).However, Cd addition enhanced N assimilation efficiency(NtUE, defined as the grain yield per unit of N taken up by the crop) by 21.9% on average in all rice cultivars.The NpUE was mainly affected by soil type, whereas NtUE was affected by rice cultivar.Hybrid cultivars had higher NUEs than the japonica and indica cultivars because of their greater biomass and higher tolerance to Cd contamination.Reduction of NUE after Cd addition was stronger in RS than in YS, which was related to the lower absorption capacity for Cd in RS.Canonical correspondence analysis-based variation partitioning showed that cultivar type had the largest effect(34.4%) on NUE, followed by Cd addition(15.2%) and soil type(10.0%).

Nitrogen addition mediates the response of foliar stoichiometry to phosphorus addition: a meta-analysis

Background:Changes in foliar nitrogen(N)and phosphorus(P)stoichiometry play important roles in predicting the efects of global change on ecosystem structure and function.However,there is substantial debate on the efects of P addition on foliar N and P stoichiometry,particularly under diferent levels of N addition.Thus,we conducted a global meta-analysis to investigate how N addition alters the efects of P addition on foliar N and P stoichiometry across different rates and durations of P addition and plant growth types based on more than 1150 observations.Results:We found that P addition without N addition increased foliar N concentrations,whereas P addition with N addition had no efect.The positive efects of P addition on foliar P concentrations were greater without N addition than with N addition.Additionally,the efects of P addition on foliar N,P and N:P ratios varied with the rate and duration of P addition.In particular,short-term or low-dose P addition with and without N addition increased foliar N concentration,and the positive efects of short-term or low-dose P addition on foliar P concentrations were greater without N addition than with N addition.The responses of foliar N and P stoichiometry of evergreen plants to P addition were greater without N addition than with N addition.Moreover,regardless of N addition,soil P availability was more efective than P resorption efciency in predicting the changes in foliar N and P stoichiometry in response to P addition.Conclusions:Our results highlight that increasing N deposition might alter the response of foliar N and P stoichiometry to P addition and demonstrate the important efect of the experimental environment on the results.These results advance our understanding of the response of plant nutrient use efciency to P addition with increasing N deposition.