Asynchronous nitrogen supply and demand produce nonlinear plant allocation responses to warming and elevated CO₂.

ABSTRACT: Terrestrial ecosystem responses to climate change are mediated by complex plant-soil feedbacks that are poorly understood, but often driven by the balance of nutrient supply and demand. We actively increased aboveground plant-surface temperature, belowground soil temperature, and atmospheric CO₂ in a brackish marsh and found nonlinear and nonadditive feedbacks in plant responses. Changes in root-to-shoot allocation by sedges were nonlinear, with peak belowground allocation occurring at +1.7 °C in both years. Above 1.7 °C, allocation to root versus shoot production decreased with increasing warming such that there were no differences in root biomass between ambient and +5.1 °C plots in either year. Elevated CO₂ altered this response when crossed with +5.1 °C, increasin

SUBMITTER: Noyce GL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6815124 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature