Articles | Volume 14, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-751-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-751-2017
Peer-reviewed comment
 | 
17 Feb 2017
Peer-reviewed comment |  | 17 Feb 2017

Nitrogen mineralization, not N2 fixation, alleviates progressive nitrogen limitation – Comment on “Processes regulating progressive nitrogen limitation under elevated carbon dioxide: a meta-analysis” by Liang et al. (2016)

Tobias Rütting

Related authors

Amino acid and N mineralization dynamics in heathland soil after long-term warming and repetitive drought
L. C. Andresen, S. Bode, A. Tietema, P. Boeckx, and T. Rütting
SOIL, 1, 341–349, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-1-341-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-1-341-2015, 2015
A fertile peatland forest does not constitute a major greenhouse gas sink
A. Meyer, L. Tarvainen, A. Nousratpour, R. G. Björk, M. Ernfors, A. Grelle, Å Kasimir Klemedtsson, A. Lindroth, M. Räntfors, T. Rütting, G. Wallin, P. Weslien, and L. Klemedtsson
Biogeosciences, 10, 7739–7758, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7739-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7739-2013, 2013

Related subject area

Biogeochemistry: Land
Gross primary productivity and the predictability of CO2: more uncertainty in what we predict than how well we predict it
István Dunkl, Nicole Lovenduski, Alessio Collalti, Vivek K. Arora, Tatiana Ilyina, and Victor Brovkin
Biogeosciences, 20, 3523–3538, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3523-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3523-2023, 2023
Short summary
Scale variance in the carbon dynamics of fragmented, mixed-use landscapes estimated using model–data fusion
David T. Milodowski, T. Luke Smallman, and Mathew Williams
Biogeosciences, 20, 3301–3327, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3301-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3301-2023, 2023
Short summary
Seasonal controls override forest harvesting effects on the composition of dissolved organic matter mobilized from boreal forest soil organic horizons
Keri L. Bowering, Kate A. Edwards, and Susan E. Ziegler
Biogeosciences, 20, 2189–2206, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2189-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2189-2023, 2023
Short summary
Leaf carbon and nitrogen stoichiometric variation along environmental gradients
Huiying Xu, Han Wang, I. Colin Prentice, and Sandy P. Harrison
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2023-87,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2023-87, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for BG
Short summary
Carbon cycle extremes accelerate weakening of the land carbon sink in the late 21st century
Bharat Sharma, Jitendra Kumar, Auroop R. Ganguly, and Forrest M. Hoffman
Biogeosciences, 20, 1829–1841, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1829-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1829-2023, 2023
Short summary

Cited articles

Batterman, S. A., Hedin, L. O., van Breugel, M., Ransijn, J., Craven, D. J., and Hall, J. S.: Key role of symbiotic dinitrogen fixation in tropical forest secondary succession, Nature, 502, 224–227, 2013.
Brookshire, E. N. J., Gerber, S., Menge, D. N. L., and Hedin, L. O.: Large losses of inorganic nitrogen from tropical rainforests suggest a lack of nitrogen limitation, Ecol. Lett., 15, 9–16, 2012.
Cleveland, C. C., Townsend, A. R., Schimel, D. S., Fisher, H., Howarth, R. W., Hedin, L. O., Perakis, S. S., Latty, E. F., von Fischer, J. C., Elserod, A., and Wasson, M. F.: Global patterns of terrestrial biological nitrogen (N2) fixation in natural ecosystems, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 13, 623–645, 1999.
Davidson, E. A., Hart, S. C., and Firestone, M. K.: Internal cycling of nitrate in soils of a mature coniferous forest, Ecology, 73, 1148–1156, 1992.
Dijkstra, F. A., Carrillo, Y., Pendall, E., and Morgan, J. A.: Rhizosphere priming: a nutrient perspective, Frontiers in Microbiology, 4, articel 216, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2013.00216, 2013.
Short summary
The response of ecosystems to elevated atmospheric CO2 is affected by nitrogen (N) availability. It has been hypothesized that N limitation becomes progressively stronger (progressive N limitation, PNL). Most long-term free air CO2 enrichment studies did not see a PNL. This paper shows that enhanced biological N2 fixation only prevents PNL in plant communities with symbiotic N2 fixation. In most ecosystems a stimulation of gross N mineralization prevents the development of a PNL.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint