Increased Precipitation and Nitrogen Alter Shrub Architecture in a Desert Shrubland: Implications for Primary Production.

ABSTRACT: Shrublands are one of the major types of ecosystems in the desert regions of northern China, which is expected to be substantially more sensitive to global environmental changes, such as widespread nitrogen enrichment and precipitation changes, than other ecosystem types. However, the interactive effects of nitrogen and precipitation on them remain poorly understood. We conducted a fully factorial field experiment simulating three levels of precipitation (ambient, +20%, +40%) and with two levels of nitrogen deposition (ambient, 60 kg N ha^-1 yr^-1) in a desert shrubland in the Mu Us Desert of northern China. We used plant architectural traits (plant cover, volume, twig size and number) as proxies to predict aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) of the dominant shr

SUBMITTER: She W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5167761 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature