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ARS Home » Plains Area » Temple, Texas » Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #382211
Research Project: Contributions of Climate, Soils, Species Diversity, and Management to Sustainable Crop, Grassland, and Livestock Production Systems

Location: Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory

Title: Soil properties as key predictors of global grassland production: Have we overlooked micronutrients?

Author
item RADUJKOVIC, DAJANA - University Of Antwerp
item VERBRUGGEN, ERIK - University Of Antwerp
item SEABLOOM, ERIC - University Of Minnesota
item BAHN, MICHAEL - University Of Innsbruck
item BIEDERMAN, LORI - Iowa State University
item BORER, ELIZABETH - University Of Minnesota
item BOUGHTON, ELIZABETH - Archbold Biological Station
item CATFORD, JANE - King'S College
item CAMPIOLI, MATTEO - University Of Antwerp
item DONOHUE, IAN - Trinity College Dublin
item EBELING, ANNE - University Of Jena
item ESKELINEN, ANU - Helmholtz Centre For Environmental Research
item Fay, Philip
item HANSART, AMANDINE - National Council For Scientific Research-Cnrs
item KNOPS, JOHANNES - Xian Jiao University
item MACDOUGALL, ANDREW - University Of Guelph
item OHLERT, TIMOTHY - University Of New Mexico
item OLDE VENTERINK, HARRY - Vrije Universiteit Brussel
item RAYNAUD, XAVIER - The Sorbonne University
item RISCH, ANITA - Swiss Federal Research Institute Wsl
item ROSCHER, CHRISTIANE - Helmholtz Centre For Environmental Research
item SCHUTZ, MARTIN - Swiss Federal Research Institute Wsl
item SILVEIRA, MARIA - University Of Florida
item STEVENS, CARLY - Lancaster University
item VAN SUNDERT, KEVIN - University Of Antwerp
item VIRTANEN, RISTO - University Of Oulu
item WARDLE, GLENDA - University Of Sydney
item WRAGG, PETER - University Of Innsbruck
item VICCA, SARA - University Of Antwerp

Submitted to: Ecology Letters
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/16/2021
Publication Date: 10/6/2021
Citation: Radujkovic, D., Verbruggen, E., Seabloom, E.W., Bahn, M., Biederman, L.A., Borer, E.T., Boughton, E., Catford, J.A., Campioli, M., Donohue, I., Ebeling, A., Eskelinen, A., Fay, P.A., Hansart, A., Knops, J.M., MacDougall, A.S., Ohlert, T., Olde Venterink, H., Raynaud, X., Risch, A.C., Roscher, C., Schütz, M., Silveira, M.L., Stevens, C.J., Van Sundert, K., Virtanen, R., Wardle, G., Wragg, P.D., Vicca, S. 2021. Soil properties as key predictors of global grassland production: Have we overlooked micronutrients? Ecology Letters. 24(12):2713-2725. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13894.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13894

Interpretive Summary: Native ecosystems including grasslands provide numerous ecosystem services, many of which tie to the production of plant biomass, which is a key determinant of biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and other aspects of climate change adaptation. In many native grasslands, biomass production is limited by availability mineral nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium. However, limitation of grassland biomass production by a group of nutrients known as ‘micronutrients’ has received little attention, although they are more well studied in agricultural production systems. This study capitalizes on a global dataset on grassland productivity and soils properties to show that soil micronutrients, particularly zinc, may co-limit grassland aboveground biomass production. Using data from a coordinated network of 72 grasslands on six continents, all using the same protocols, zinc availability in the soil was found to predict aboveground biomass production in grasslands where nitrogen and phosphorus were more available. This suggests that zinc or other micronutrients together with nitrogen or phosphorus may co-limit grassland productivity. The role of micronutrients in grassland productivity warrants further study, and may play a previously unappreciated role in ecosystem services provision from native grasslands.

Technical Abstract: Plant biomass production is a key determinant of biodiversity and carbon sequestration in grasslands. Previous research demonstrated the importance of climate and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition as predictors of global grassland biomass production. However, the contribution of soil properties determining nutrient availability has not been comprehensively examined, despite their unquestionable importance for plant productivity. Using data on climate, N deposition and 16 soil factors in 72 worldwide distributed grasslands, we investigated whether and which soil factors contribute to explaining the variation in grassland aboveground biomass. We show that soil physicochemical properties, C:N and metallic micronutrients (zinc and iron) together explained more unique variation in biomass than climate and N deposition combined (32% vs 26%, respectively). Moreover, the relationship between micronutrients and biomass was absent in the grasslands with relatively low N availability, as well as in the subset of grasslands previously shown to be N(P) (co)limited. These results highlight soil properties as key predictors of global grassland biomass production and suggest that, in areas where NP are not (co)limiting plant growth, metallic micronutrients play a more important role than previously thought.