Research Articles

Effect of different levels of nitrogen addition on aboveground and belowground net primary productivity in Leymus secalinus grassland in Northern Shanxi, China

  • BIAN Jia-Chen ,
  • WANG Rui ,
  • GAO Yang-Yang ,
  • LIANG Wen-Jun ,
  • JIN Hong ,
  • ZHANG Wen-Xuan ,
  • ZHANG Xiao-Rong ,
  • HAO Jie ,
  • $\boxed{\hbox{WANG Chang-Hui}}$ ,
  • DONG Kuan-Hu ,
  • DIAO Hua-Jie
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  • 1College of Grassland Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Shanxi 030801, China
    2Shanxi Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecological Protection and Native Grass Germplasm Innovation, Taigu, Shanxi 030801, China
    3Youyu Loess Plateau Grassland Ecosystem National Research Station, Youyu, Shanxi 037200, China

Received date: 2024-12-12

  Accepted date: 2025-03-04

  Online published: 2025-05-07

Supported by

National Natural Science Foundation of China(U22A20576);National Natural Science Foundation of China(32301375);Basic Research Project of Shanxi Province(202203021212420)

Abstract

Aims Nitrogen (N) addition can significantly affect the aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and belowground net primary productivity (BNPP) of grassland ecosystems. However, the mechanisms underlying different responses of plant ANPP and BNPP to N addition and their saturation response thresholds at different levels of N addition are not clear.

Methods Eight N addition levels (0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 g·m-2·a-1) were set up in the Leymus secalinus grassland in Northern Shanxi, and the changes of plant ANPP, BNPP and total net primary productivity (NPP) were monitored for five years from 2017 to 2021. The temporal stability, N saturation threshold and N response efficiency of plant productivity were also calculated.

Important findings The results showed that: (1) ANPP and NPP were increased nonlinearly with the increase of N addition levels. The saturation response thresholds of ANPP and NPP across five years (2017-2021) were 25.7 g·m-2·a-1and 21.3 g·m-2·a-1, respectively. (2) ANPP and BNPP had different sensitivities to N addition, and the sensitivity of ANPP was higher than that of BNPP. The change in NPP was mainly caused by changes in ANPP, suggesting that plant productivity distribution to the aboveground increased as the level of N addition increased. (3) Nitrogen response efficiency of ANPP (NREANPP)showed an exponential downward trend with the increase of N addition levels, while the nitrogen response efficiency of BNPP (NREBNPP) and nitrogen response efficiency of NPP (NRENPP) showed a linear downward trend with the increase of N addition levels. (4) Structural equation model analysis showed that soil NO-3-N content and pH regulated the effects of N addition and duration on plant ANPP and BNPP. There were different regulatory mechanisms of ANPP and BNPP under low N and high N addition treatments. Both ANPP and BNPP were directly affected by N addition under low N addition treatments, while the soil inorganic N content indirectly regulated the response of ANPP and BNPP to N addition under high N addition treatments. This study indicates that plant productivity in grassland ecosystem responds nonlinearly with N addition levels, which provided dataset supporting for ecosystem service function of Leymus secalinus grassland in Northern Shanxi under the scenario of N deposition.

Cite this article

BIAN Jia-Chen , WANG Rui , GAO Yang-Yang , LIANG Wen-Jun , JIN Hong , ZHANG Wen-Xuan , ZHANG Xiao-Rong , HAO Jie , $\boxed{\hbox{WANG Chang-Hui}}$ , DONG Kuan-Hu , DIAO Hua-Jie . Effect of different levels of nitrogen addition on aboveground and belowground net primary productivity in Leymus secalinus grassland in Northern Shanxi, China[J]. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, 2025 , 49(12) : 2043 -2053 . DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2024.0453

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