Atmospheric nitrogen deposition is related to plant biodiversity loss at multiple spatial scales,Global Change Biology

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Atmospheric nitrogen deposition is related to plant biodiversity loss at multiple spatial scales
Global Change Biology ( IF 10.8 ) Pub Date : 2024-08-21 , DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17445
Fons van der Plas ₁ , Yann Hautier ₂ , Tobias Ceulemans ₃ , Didier Alard ₄ , Roland Bobbink ₅ , Martin Diekmann ₆ , Nancy B Dise ₇ , Edu Dorland ₈ , Cecilia Dupré ₆ , David Gowing ₉ , Carly Stevens ₁₀

Affiliation

Due to various human activities, including intensive agriculture, traffic, and the burning of fossil fuels, in many parts of the world, current levels of reactive nitrogen emissions strongly exceed pre‐industrial levels. Previous studies have shown that the atmospheric deposition of these excess nitrogen compounds onto semi‐natural terrestrial environments has negative consequences for plant diversity. However, these previous studies mostly investigated biodiversity loss at local spatial scales, that is, at the scales of plots of typically a few square meters. Whether increased atmospheric nitrogen deposition also affects plant diversity at larger spatial scales remains unknown. Here, using grassland plant community data collected in 765 plots, across 153 different sites and 9 countries in northwestern Europe, we investigate whether relationships between atmospheric nitrogen deposition and plant biodiversity are scale‐dependent. We found that high levels of atmospheric nitrogen deposition were associated with low levels of plant species richness at the plot scale but also at the scale of sites and regions. The presence of 39% of plant species was negatively associated with increasing levels of nitrogen deposition at large (site) scales, while only 1.5% of the species became more common with increasing nitrogen deposition, indicating that large‐scale biodiversity changes were mostly driven by “loser” species, while “winner” species profiting from high N deposition were rare. Some of the “loser” species whose site presence was negatively associated with atmospheric nitrogen deposition are listed as “threatened” in at least some EU member states, suggesting that nitrogen deposition may be a key contributor to their threat status. Hence, reductions in reactive nitrogen emissions will likely benefit plant diversity not only at local but also at larger spatial scales.

中文翻译：

大气氮沉降与多个空间尺度的植物生物多样性丧失有关

由于各种人类活动，包括集约化农业、交通和化石燃料的燃烧，在世界许多地区，目前的活性氮排放水平大大超过了工业化前的水平。先前的研究表明，这些过量的氮化合物在大气中沉积到半自然陆地环境上，会对植物多样性产生负面影响。然而，以前的这些研究主要调查局部空间尺度的生物多样性丧失，即通常几平方米的地块尺度。大气氮沉降的增加是否也会影响更大空间尺度的植物多样性仍然未知。在这里，我们利用在西北欧 9 个国家 153 个不同地点的 765 个地块收集的草原植物群落数据，研究了大气氮沉降与植物生物多样性之间的关系是否具有尺度依赖性。我们发现，高水平的大气氮沉降与地块尺度上的植物物种丰富度低水平相关，而且在地点和区域尺度上也存在相关性。 39%的植物物种的存在与大范围（地点）氮沉降水平的增加呈负相关，而只有1.5%的植物物种随着氮沉降的增加而变得更加常见，这表明大规模的生物多样性变化主要是由“失败者”物种，而从高氮沉降中获利的“获胜者”物种却很少见。一些“失败者”物种的存在与大气氮沉降呈负相关，至少在一些欧盟成员国被列为“受威胁”，这表明氮沉降可能是其受到威胁的一个关键因素。因此，活性氮排放的减少可能不仅有利于当地的植物多样性，而且有利于更大空间尺度的植物多样性。

更新日期：2024-08-21

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