Global patterns of terrestrial nitrogen and phosphorus limitation
(2020) In Nature Geoscience 13(3). p.221-226- Abstract
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) limitation constrains the magnitude of terrestrial carbon uptake in response to elevated carbon dioxide and climate change. However, global maps of nutrient limitation are still lacking. Here we examined global N and P limitation using the ratio of site-averaged leaf N and P resorption efficiencies of the dominant species across 171 sites. We evaluated our predictions using a global database of N- and P-limitation experiments based on nutrient additions at 106 and 53 sites, respectively. Globally, we found a shift from relative P to N limitation for both higher latitudes and precipitation seasonality and lower mean annual temperature, temperature seasonality, mean annual precipitation and soil clay... (More)
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) limitation constrains the magnitude of terrestrial carbon uptake in response to elevated carbon dioxide and climate change. However, global maps of nutrient limitation are still lacking. Here we examined global N and P limitation using the ratio of site-averaged leaf N and P resorption efficiencies of the dominant species across 171 sites. We evaluated our predictions using a global database of N- and P-limitation experiments based on nutrient additions at 106 and 53 sites, respectively. Globally, we found a shift from relative P to N limitation for both higher latitudes and precipitation seasonality and lower mean annual temperature, temperature seasonality, mean annual precipitation and soil clay fraction. Excluding cropland, urban and glacial areas, we estimate that 18% of the natural terrestrial land area is significantly limited by N, whereas 43% is relatively P limited. The remaining 39% of the natural terrestrial land area could be co-limited by N and P or weakly limited by either nutrient alone. This work provides both a new framework for testing nutrient limitation and a benchmark of N and P limitation for models to constrain predictions of the terrestrial carbon sink.
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- author
- Du, Enzai ; Terrer, César ; Pellegrini, Adam F.A. ; Ahlström, Anders LU ; van Lissa, Caspar J. ; Zhao, Xia ; Xia, Nan ; Wu, Xinhui and Jackson, Robert B.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2020-03
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Nature Geoscience
- volume
- 13
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 6 pages
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85079457261
- ISSN
- 1752-0894
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41561-019-0530-4
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e76b645d-0bc0-4817-bf55-11c67567b354
- date added to LUP
- 2020-02-28 10:46:18
- date last changed
- 2023-10-08 01:13:41
@article{e76b645d-0bc0-4817-bf55-11c67567b354, abstract = {{<p>Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) limitation constrains the magnitude of terrestrial carbon uptake in response to elevated carbon dioxide and climate change. However, global maps of nutrient limitation are still lacking. Here we examined global N and P limitation using the ratio of site-averaged leaf N and P resorption efficiencies of the dominant species across 171 sites. We evaluated our predictions using a global database of N- and P-limitation experiments based on nutrient additions at 106 and 53 sites, respectively. Globally, we found a shift from relative P to N limitation for both higher latitudes and precipitation seasonality and lower mean annual temperature, temperature seasonality, mean annual precipitation and soil clay fraction. Excluding cropland, urban and glacial areas, we estimate that 18% of the natural terrestrial land area is significantly limited by N, whereas 43% is relatively P limited. The remaining 39% of the natural terrestrial land area could be co-limited by N and P or weakly limited by either nutrient alone. This work provides both a new framework for testing nutrient limitation and a benchmark of N and P limitation for models to constrain predictions of the terrestrial carbon sink.</p>}}, author = {{Du, Enzai and Terrer, César and Pellegrini, Adam F.A. and Ahlström, Anders and van Lissa, Caspar J. and Zhao, Xia and Xia, Nan and Wu, Xinhui and Jackson, Robert B.}}, issn = {{1752-0894}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{3}}, pages = {{221--226}}, publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}}, series = {{Nature Geoscience}}, title = {{Global patterns of terrestrial nitrogen and phosphorus limitation}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0530-4}}, doi = {{10.1038/s41561-019-0530-4}}, volume = {{13}}, year = {{2020}}, }