Local nutrient addition drives plant diversity losses but not biotic homogenization in global grasslands

Nutrient enrichment typically causes local plant diversity declines. A common but untested expectation is that nutrient enrichment also reduces variation in nutrient conditions among localities and selects for a smaller pool of species, causing greater diversity declines at larger than local scales and thus biotic homogenization. Here we apply a framework that links changes in species richness across scales to changes in the numbers of spatially restricted and widespread species for a standardized nutrient addition experiment across 72 grasslands on six continents. Overall, we find proportionally similar species loss at local and larger scales, suggesting similar declines of spatially restricted and widespread species, and no biotic homogenization after 4 years and up to 14 years of treatment. These patterns of diversity changes are generally consistent across species groups. Thus, nutrient enrichment poses threats to plant diversity, including for widespread species that are often critical for ecosystem functions.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2025-05-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59166-7
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.63

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article

Local nutrient addition drives plant diversity losses but not biotic homogenization in global grasslands

Maria C. Caldeira, Brooke B. Osborne, Marc W. Cadotte, Pedro M. Tognetti et al.
2 citations
Nature Communications
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
4.63
article

Local nutrient addition drives plant diversity losses but not biotic homogenization in global grasslands

Maria C. Caldeira, Brooke B. Osborne, Marc W. Cadotte, Pedro M. Tognetti, W. Stanley Harpole, Emma Ladouceur, Pedro Daleo, Risto Virtanen, Michelle Tedder, Daniel S. Gruner, Nico Eisenhauer, Christiane Roscher, Jane A. Catford, Jonathan M. Chase, Peter B. Adler, Carly Stevens, Nicole Hagenah, Anu Eskelinen, Anke Jentsch, Sylvia Haider, Miguel N. Bugalho, Petr Macek, Jason P. Martina, Elizabeth T. Borer, Catalina Estrada, Yujie Niu, Glenda M. Wardle, Sumanta Bagchi, G. F. Veen, Erika I. Hersch‐Green, Jonathan D. Bakker, Eric W. Seabloom, Qingqing Chen, Anita C. Risch, Carla M. D’Antonio, Pablo L. Peri, Sally A. Power, Ian Donohue, Chris R. Dickman, Harry Olde Venterink, Shane A. Blowes, Lauri Laanisto, George R. Wheeler, Yann Hautier, Andrew MacDougall, John W. Morgan, Johannes M. H. Knops
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Nutrient enrichment typically causes local plant diversity declines. A common but untested expectation is that nutrient enrichment also reduces variation in nutrient conditions among localities and selects for a smaller pool of species, causing greater diversity declines at larger than local scales and thus biotic homogenization. Here we apply a framework that links changes in species richness across scales to changes in the numbers of spatially restricted and widespread species for a standardized nutrient addition experiment across 72 grasslands on six continents. Overall, we find proportionally similar species loss at local and larger scales, suggesting similar declines of spatially restricted and widespread species, and no biotic homogenization after 4 years and up to 14 years of treatment. These patterns of diversity changes are generally consistent across species groups. Thus, nutrient enrichment poses threats to plant diversity, including for widespread species that are often critical for ecosystem functions.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 16(1)
Leuphana University of Lüneburg (DE), University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US), Michigan Technological University (US), Utah State University (US), The University of Sydney (AU), University of Minnesota (US), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE), Texas State University (US), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), University of Lisbon (PT), University of California, Santa Barbara (US), The University of Melbourne (AU), King's College London (GB), University of Toronto (CA), Utrecht University (NL), Estonian University of Life Sciences (EE), La Trobe University (AU), University of Washington (US), Trinity College Dublin (IE), University of Prince Edward Island (CA), Scarborough Health Network (CA), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), National University of Austral Patagonia (AR), Agricultural Plant Physiology and Ecology Research Institute (AR), Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NL), Institute of Marine and Coastal Research (AR), Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz (DE), Institute of Hydrobiology (UA), Imperial College London (GB), University of Bayreuth (DE), Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IN), Western Sydney University (AU), University of Maryland, College Park (US), Lancaster University (GB), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE), Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (CN), University of Pretoria (ZA), University of Guelph (CA), Leipzig University (DE), University of KwaZulu-Natal (ZA), University of Oulu (FI)
National Science Foundation, European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Deutsches Zentrum für integrative Biodiversitätsforschung Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
4.63
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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