The nitrogen-15 (15N) natural abundance composition
(δ15N) in soils or plants is a useful tool to indicate the
openness of ecosystem N cycling. This study aimed to evaluate the
influence of the experimental warming on soil and plant δ15N.
We applied a global meta-analysis method to synthesize 79 and 76 paired
observations of soil and plant δ15N from 20 published studies,
respectively. Results showed that the mean effect sizes of the soil and
plant δ15N under experimental warming were -0.524 (95 % CI (confidence interval):
-0.987 to -0.162) and 0.189 (95 % CI: -0.210 to 0.569), respectively. This
indicated that soil δ15N had negative response to warming at
the global scale, where warming had no significant effect on plant δ15N. Experimental warming significantly (p<0.05) decreased
soil δ15N in Alkali and medium-textured soils, in
grassland/meadow, under air warming, for a 4–10-year warming period and for an
increase of >3∘C in temperature, whereas it significantly
(p<0.05) increased soil δ15N in neutral and
fine-textured soils and for an increase of 1.5–3 ∘C in temperature.
Plant δ15N significantly (p<0.05) increased with
increasing temperature in neutral and fine-textured soils and significantly
(p<0.05) decreased in alkali soil. Latitude did not affect the
warming effects on both soil and plant δ15N. However, the
warming effect on soil δ15N was positively controlled by the
mean annual temperature, which is related to the fact that the higher
temperature can strengthen the activity of soil microbes. The effect of
warming on plant δ15N had weaker relationships with
environmental variables compared with that on soil δ15N. This
implied that soil δ15N was more effective than plant δ15N in indicating the openness of global ecosystem N cycling.
Introduction
Nitrogen (N) is one of the most important nutrient elements for plant growth
and the key limiting factor for vegetation productivity (McLay et al.,
2001; Zhu et al., 2018; Lu et al., 2020). On the one hand, if the available
N in the soil is insufficient, it will damage and weaken the ecosystem
service function, including the supply of primary material products, water
conservation, climate regulation, etc. (Averill and Waring, 2018). On the
other hand, if the available N in the soil is over supplied, it will also
damage the structure and function of the ecosystem, resulting in a series of
environmental problems such as soil acidification and imbalance of ecosystem
nutrient (Schrijver et al., 2008). The intermediate products of the N
cycling processes, such as nitrate nitrogen
(NO3--N), nitrous oxide
(N2O) and nitric oxide (NO), may also cause eco-environmental pollution
such as eutrophication of water bodies and aggravation of climate-related
issues (Liao et al., 2019). Therefore, it is of great significance to reveal
the openness of the ecosystem N cycle process for understanding the plant N
fixation and long-term trend of N cycling and protecting the eco-environment
(Wang et al., 2014; Wu et al., 2019). Openness is a measure of both N inputs
and outputs relative to internal cycling and determines both the potential
rate of N accumulation in the ecosystem and the potential for N losses
following a disturbance (Rastetter et al., 2021).
The 15N natural abundance composition (δ15N) in soils or
plants (leaves, shoots, fine roots, and litter) is often used to indicate the
openness of ecosystem N cycling (Robinson, 2001). This is because the
lighter isotope of 14N is always preferentially lost from the
ecosystem. Thus, the isotopic fractionation effect results in gradual
15N enrichment in the ecosystem (Aranibar et al., 2004). The larger the
δ15N value, the higher degree of openness of N cycling. In
addition, soil δ15N also appears to reflect the degree of
decomposition of the organic matter, showing that δ15N
increases with processing (Craine et al., 2015). A large number of studies
have confirmed that climate was the main factor regulating the soil and
plant δ15N (Craine et al., 2015; Soper et al., 2015). Previous
studies have demonstrated that precipitation had a negative effect on soil
and plant δ15N from in situ evidence to cross-site syntheses
(Swap et al., 2004; Soper et al., 2015). However, the influence of
temperature on soil and plant δ15N remains controversial. Some
studies have shown that soil and plant δ15N increased with
temperature (Amundson et al., 2003; Craine et al., 2015), while others have
indicated that δ15N decreased with temperature (Cheng et al.,
2009; Sheng et al., 2014) or that they were not correlated (Yang et al.,
2013). The various studies suggested that the responses of soil and plant
δ15N to warming were very complex and not well understood. In
addition to climate factor, soil and plant δ15N are affected by
a variety of other environmental factors, such as vegetation type,
topography, soil properties and management practices (Gurmesa et al., 2017;
Wang et al., 2019). However, we know little about the influences of
environmental factors on the warming effect on ecosystem N cycling, in terms
of soil and plant δ15N.
Soil and air warming experiments have often been conducted to study the
effect of warming on the ecosystem N cycling at the site scale (Schindlbacher et
al., 2009). At present, the effect of experimental warming on soil and plant
δ15N has not been studied on a global scale. The objectives of
this study were to (i) detect the effect of experimental warming on the
soil and plant δ15N based on a global meta-analysis of 20
studies and (ii) identify the main factors influencing the warming effect
on the soil and plant δ15N. In addition, previous studies
(e.g., Liu and Wang, 2009; Wang et al., 2014) have found that the
correlation between soil δ15N and environmental factors was
stronger than that for plant, which may be due to the fact that soil samples
represented a long-term average for a given location, while plant samples
were affected by the microenvironment or the short-term environmental
fluctuations. Therefore, we specifically hypothesized that soil δ15N is a better indicator of ecosystem N cycling than plant δ15N.
Site characteristics from a global meta-analysis of 20
studies.
ReferencesCountry/regionVegetation typesSoil pHSoil typeOMCa (%)LatitudeLongitudeAltitude (m a.s.l)MATb (∘C)MAPc (mm)Anadon-Rosell et al. (2017)SpainSubalpine shrub4.49–4.63Mineral soil13.15–14.0441.39∘ N2.17∘ E225031146.4Zhang et al. (2019)ChinaC. lanceolata seedlings5.07Oxisol–26.32∘ N117.6∘ E30019.11670Lim et al. (2019)SwedenBoreal forests5.92–6.44A thin, podzolic, sandy soil–64.12∘ N19.45∘ E3102.4600Deane-Coe et al. (2015)USATundra mosses–Gelisol–63.88∘ N149.23∘ W700-2.7 to -1138–228Bijoor et al. (2008)USATurfgrass lawn–Alkaline alo clay–33.7∘ N117.7∘ W3018.6352Chang et al. (2017)ChinaAlpine meadow9.1–9.3Gelisols5.534.73∘ N92.89∘ E4750-5.3269.7Gonzalez-Meler et al. (2017)BrazilGrasslands5.0Dystrophic red Latosols–21.17∘ S47.86∘ W57821.51100Natali et al. (2012)USAShrubs, sedges, and mosses–Gelisol–63.88∘ N149.23∘ W700-1178–250Munir et al. (2017)CanadaShrubs, mosses, and trees–––55.27∘ N112.47∘ WSalmon et al. (2016)USAEriophorum vaginatum–Gelisols–63.88∘ N149.23∘ W700-1.45200Rui et al. (2011)ChinaAlpine meadow–––37.62∘ N101.2∘ E3200–2500Aerts et al. (2009)SwedenShrubs, mosses, and trees–––68.35∘ N18.82∘ E3400.5303Cheng et al. (2011)USATallgrass prairieNeutral pHNash–Lucien complex–34.98∘ N97.52∘ W16911.4Dawes et al. (2017)SwitzerlandAlpine treeline–Sandy Ranker and Podzols–46.77∘ N9.87∘ E21809.2444Schaeffer et al. (2013)GreenlandProstrate dwarf-shrub herb tundra–Turbic Cryosols–76∘ N68∘ W4–8<200Schnecker et al. (2016)AustriaSpruce forestNear-neutral pHA mosaic of shallow Chromic8.55–14.9647.58∘ N11.64∘ E9106.91506Cambisols and Rendzic LeptosolsHudson et al. (2011)CanadaHeath, willow, and meadow–––78.88∘ N75.78∘ W8.6–10.4Lv et al. (2018)ChinaCunninghamia lanceolata juveniles–Red soil2.2126.32∘ N118∘ E19.11585Zhao et al. (2016)ChinaAlpine meadow–Alpine meadow soils–37.48∘ N101.2∘ E3200–3250-1.7600Peng (2017)ChinaAlpine meadow–Alpine meadow soils–34.73∘ N92.89∘ E3200–4800-5.03267.4–426.3
a Soil organic matter content; b Mean annual temperature; c Mean
annual precipitation. If the soil organic carbon content was provided in the
literature, soil organic matter content was determined by multiplying the
organic carbon content by a coefficient of 1.724.
Materials and methodsSource of data and selection criteria
Peer-reviewed journal articles and dissertations related to soil and plant
δ15N under experimental warming were searched using Web of
Science and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI; http://www.cnki.net) last access: 31 March 2020 (Table 1). The keywords used for
the literature search were related to “nitrogen isotope composition”,
“experimental warming”, and “ecosystems nitrogen cycling”.
Our criteria were as follows: at least one of the target variables was
contained, including soil (different fractions, e.g., sand, silt, clay,
aggregate, and bulk soil) and plant (leaves, shoots, roots, and litter)
δ15N; studies with climate gradients (space-time substitution)
were excluded and only field warming experimental studies were included;
only data from control and warming treatments were applied for multifactor
experiments; means, standard deviation (SD) (or standard error (SE)), and
sample sizes were directly provided or could be calculated from the studies;
if one article contained soil or plant δ15N in multiple years,
only the latest results were applied since the observations should be
independent in the meta-analysis (Hedges et al., 1999).
Data extraction and statistical analysis
In total, 20 published papers were selected from 54 published papers. The
locations of warming experiments were presented, and their site information
is listed in Table 1. For each study, the means, the statistical variation
(SE or SD), and the sample size values for treatment and control groups were
extracted for each response variable (δ15N). In addition to
δ15N, the latitude, longitude, altitude, soil pH, organic
matter content, vegetation type, mean annual precipitation (MAP), and mean
annual temperature (MAT) were also extracted if they were provided (Table 1).
All data were extracted from tables or digitized from graphs with the
software GetData v2.2.4 (http://www.getdata-graph-digitizer.com, last access: 17 October 2020). A total of 79 and 76 paired
observations for soil and plant δ15N were obtained,
respectively.
The MetaWin 2.1 software (Sinauer Associates Inc., Sunderland, MA, USA)
(Rosenberg et al., 2000) was used to perform meta-analysis in this study.
The Hedges' d value was used as the effect size (Hedges et al., 1999). The
absolute d value indicated the magnitude of the treatment impact. Positive or
negative d values represented an increase or decrease effect of the
treatment, respectively. Zero meant no difference between treatment and
control groups. Resampling tests were incorporated into our meta-analysis
using the bootstrap method (999 random replicates). The mean effect size
(calculated from 999 iterations) and 95 % bootstrap confidence interval
(CI) were then generated. If the 95 % CI values of d did not overlap zero,
the effects of experimental warming on δ15N were considered
significant at p<0.05. We used a random effects model to test
whether warming had a significant effect on δ15N. To examine
whether experimental conditions alter the response direction and magnitude
of soil and plant δ15N, observations were further divided into
subgroups according to the soil acidity–alkalinity (acid (pH < 6.5),
neutral (6.5 < pH < 7.5), and alkali (pH > 7.5)),
vegetation types (forest/shrub, moss/lichen, and grassland/meadow), warming
treatments (soil warming, air warming, and both soil and air warming), soil
texture (fine-, medium-, and coarse-textured soil), length of warming
(< 4, 4–10, and > 10 years), and increase in
temperature (< 1.5, 1.5–3, and > 3 ∘C). A random effects model with a grouping variable was used to
compare responses among different subgroups. Linear regression analyses were
applied to assess the relationships between the Hedges' d values and
environmental factors (i.e., latitude, altitude, MAT, and MAP).
Effect sizes of the experimental warming on soil and
plant δ15N from a global meta-analysis of 20 studies. The error
bars indicate effect sizes and 95 % bootstrap confidence interval (CI).
The warming effect was statistically significant if the 95 % CI did not
bracket zero. The sample size for each variable is shown next to the bar.
Results
Across all sites, the mean effect sizes of the soil and plant δ15N under experimental warming were -0.524 (95 % CI: -0.987 to
-0.162) and 0.189 (95 % CI: -0.210 to 0.569), respectively (Fig. 1).
Experimental warming significantly (p<0.05) decreased soil δ15N in Alkali (mean effect size =-2.484; 95 % CI: -2.931 to
-2.060) and medium-textured (mean effect size =-0.676; 95 % CI: -1.153
to -0.249) soils, in grassland/meadow (mean effect size =-0.609; 95 %
CI: -1.076 to -0.190), under air warming (mean effect size =-0.652;
95 % CI: -1.081 to -0.273), for a 4–10-year warming period (mean effect size =-0.652; 95 % CI: -1.081 to -0.273) and for an increase of > 3 ∘C in temperature (mean effect size = -0.652; 95 % CI: -1.081 to
-0.273). However, it significantly (p<0.05) increased soil δ15N in neutral (mean effect size = 0.359; 95 % CI: 0.078 to 0.620)
and fine-texture soils (mean effect size = 2.394; 95 % CI: 1.770 to
3.735), and for an increase of 1.5–3 ∘C in temperature (mean effect
size = 0.409; 95 % CI: 0.070 to 0.707) (Fig. 2). Experimental warming
did not significantly (p> 0.05) change soil δ15N
under other experimental conditions.
Continued.
Factors influencing the effect sizes of the soil and
plant δ15N under experimental warming from a global
meta-analysis of 20 studies, including (a–b) soil acidity–alkalinity, (c–d) vegetation types, (e–f) warming treatments, (g–h) soil texture, (i–j) length
of warming, and (k–l) increase in temperature. The error bars indicate effect
sizes and 95 % bootstrap confidence interval (CI). The warming effect was
statistically significant if the 95 % CI did not bracket zero. The sample
size for each variable is shown next to the bar.
In addition, experimental warming significantly (p<0.05) increased
plant δ15N in neutral (mean effect size = 3.157; 95 % CI:
1.529 to 6.967) and fine-textured soils (mean effect size = 1.202; 95 %
CI: 1.042 to 1.360), whereas it significantly (p<0.05) decreased
plant δ15N in alkali soil (mean effect size =-1.930; 95 %
CI: -2.325 to -1.573) (Fig. 2). Experimental warming did not significantly
(p> 0.05) change plant δ15N under other experimental
conditions.
Relationships between the Hedges' d values of soil and
plant δ15N with the latitude, altitude, mean annual temperature
(MAT), and mean annual precipitation (MAP) under experimental warming.
For soil and plant δ15N, their responses to experimental
warming did not correlate well with latitude (p=0.268 and p=0.160,
respectively) (Fig. 3a, b). However, the Hedges' d values of soil δ15N decreased significantly with altitude (p<0.001) (Fig. 3c)
and increased significantly with MAT (p<0.001) and MAP (p<0.001) (Fig. 3e, g). In addition, the Hedges' d values of plant δ15N were also found to increase significantly with MAP (p<0.001) (Fig. 3h). However, the responses of plant δ15N to
experimental warming did not correlate well with altitude (p=0.109) and
MAT (p=0.002) (Fig. 3d, f).
Discussion
A significant decreasing trend in soil δ15N and no significant
trend in plant δ15N were found in this study. This is somewhat
inconsistent with previous findings. Chang et al. (2017) observed that soil
and plant δ15N values decreased under warming in the Tibetan
permafrost. However, Zhang et al. (2019) found that the warming treatment
significantly increased soil and plant δ15N in a subtropical
forest. The various studies suggest that soil and plant δ15N
are controlled by interactive effects of N fixation and mineralization. At
the global scale, δ15N of N input (∼ 0) is
generally lower than that of soil, so greater N fixation or higher N input
(deposition and fertilization) under warming can result in a lower soil
δ15N (Sorensen and Michelsen, 2011; Rousk and Michelsen, 2017;
Wang et al., 2018).
Soil pH has an important influence on nitrification, denitrification, and
N2O emissions from soils (Kyveryga et al., 2004). The results in this
study showed that when the soil was alkaline the mean effect sizes of soil
and plant δ15N under warming were negative, and when the soil
was neutral they were positive (Fig. 2a, b). Compared with alkaline
condition, the near-neutral conditions are more suitable for the biological
activities of heterotrophic denitrifying bacteria (Simek and Cooper, 2002).
Therefore, the denitrification activity is usually higher under neutral
conditions, resulting in an enrichment of soil and plant N pools with
15N (Kyveryga et al., 2004). Vegetation type had limited effects on
δ15N under warming, except for soil δ15N in
grassland/meadow (Fig. 2c, d). This may be related to the differences in
altitude, MAP, and MAT among three vegetation types (Table 1). The type of
warming treatment was found to have a substantial effect on soil δ15N, showing that the mean effect size of soil δ15N under
air warming was negative and less than that under soil warming (Fig. 2e, f).
Salmon et al. (2016) have found that soil warming can increase N
availability by stimulating mineralization of organic matter in the warmed
active layer. In addition, air warming directly impacts aboveground
temperatures and has an indirect effect on soil δ15N (Pardo et
al., 2006). From Fig. 2g and h, the finer the soil texture, the more significant
the positive effect of warming on soil and plant δ15N. One
possible reason is that the finer the soil texture, the stronger the
adsorption of various ions on the soil and the smaller the leaching loss of
the soil, resulting in greater residual amount of 15N in the soil
(Webster et al., 1986). In addition, the longer warming period and the
greater increase in temperature resulted in a more negative effect of
warming on soil δ15N (Fig. 2i, k). Chang et al. (2017) deduced
that N fixation was greater under warming and consequently resulted in a
lower soil δ15N.
In the study of Mayor et al. (2015), soil and plant δ15N values were
significantly (p<0.001) and negatively correlated with latitude at
the global scale. However, the Hedges' d values of soil and plant δ15N had weak correlations with latitude in this study (Fig. 3). The
warming effect on soil δ15N was significantly (p<0.001) influenced by altitude, MAT and MAP. Among these, the strongest
correlation was observed for MAT. It is possible that soil δ15N
increased with increasing MAT when the MAT exceeded a certain threshold
(e.g., 9.8 ∘C as proposed by Craine et al., 2015). In this case, the
increase in MAT can enhance the positive effect of experimental warming on
soil δ15N. In addition, the MAT can also affect ecosystem N
cycle by influencing soil texture. Craine et al. (2015) reported that hot
sites had greater clay concentrations than cold sites. As depicted in Fig. 2g, the finer the texture of the soil, the more significant the effect of
experimental warming on soil δ15N. High d values of soil δ15N corresponded to MAT of about 20 ∘C, which was the most
suitable temperature for nitrification and denitrification. However, warming
had a substantial negative impact on soil δ15N when MAT
decreased to around -5 ∘C. Recently, Rousk et al. (2018) also found
that the increase in temperature in the Arctic promoted the biological N
fixation, which can decrease the soil δ15N. The decrease of d values
of soil δ15N with increasing altitude and decreasing MAP in
this study might be caused by the positive response of d values to MAT.
The relationships between the d values and environmental variables for plant
δ15N were weaker than those for soil δ15N (Fig. 3). One possible reason is that several other factors (e.g., plant N
concentrations and species richness) might co-regulate plant δ15N (Wu et al., 2019). This is consistent with the study of Craine et
al. (2009), who found different inflection points in soil and plant δ15N relationships with MAT. In addition, plants are generally depleted
in 15N relative to soils. Above results implied that soil δ15N was more efficient in indicating the openness of ecosystem N
cycling than plant δ15N at the global scale. Although the
present study provided a global meta-analysis of the responses of δ15N to experimental warming, the magnitude of these responses might be
uncertain. For example, a small number of observations were obtained in
moss/lichen under soil warming and both soil and air warming treatments,
which would affect the results of the meta-analysis. Future research should take
more experimental data into account in order to better investigate the
warming effects on δ15N.
Conclusions
Our global meta-analysis indicated a significant decreasing trend in soil
δ15N and no significant trend in plant δ15N under
experimental warming. Latitude did not affect the warming effects on δ15N. However, the warming effect on δ15N was related to
soil acidity–alkalinity; texture; vegetation type; warming treatment and
period; and increase in temperature, altitude, MAT, and MAP. The effect of
warming on soil δ15N was better correlated with environmental
variables compared with that on plant δ15N. Our findings should
be useful for understanding the underlying mechanisms of the response of
ecosystem N cycling to global warming.
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study
are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Author contributions
KL and QZ designed this study, KL and XL
performed the meta-analysis, KL and QZ obtained funding, and KL and XL wrote
the paper with contributions from QZ.
Author contributions
The contact author has declared that neither they nor their co-authors have any competing interests.
Disclaimer
Publisher’s note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Acknowledgements
We thank the two anonymous reviewers and editor for
their efforts on this paper. Support for this research was provided by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China and by Chinese Academy of
Sciences.
Financial support
his study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 42125103 and 42171077), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. 2020317).
Review statement
This paper was edited by Kate Buckeridge and reviewed by Kate Buckeridge and one anonymous referee.
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