Moss species and precipitation mediate experimental warming stimulation of growing season N2 fixation in subarctic tundra
2024 (English)In: Global Change Biology, ISSN 1354-1013, E-ISSN 1365-2486, Vol. 30, no 7, article id e17401Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Climate change in high latitude regions leads to both higher temperatures and more precipitation but their combined effects on terrestrial ecosystem processes are poorly understood. In nitrogen (N) limited and often moss-dominated tundra and boreal ecosystems, moss-associated N2 fixation is an important process that provides new N. We tested whether high mean annual precipitation enhanced experimental warming effects on growing season N2 fixation in three common arctic-boreal moss species adapted to different moisture conditions and evaluated their N contribution to the landscape level. We measured in situ N2 fixation rates in Hylocomium splendens, Pleurozium schreberi and Sphagnum spp. from June to September in subarctic tundra in Sweden. We exposed mosses occurring along a natural precipitation gradient (mean annual precipitation: 571–1155 mm) to 8 years of experimental summer warming using open-top chambers before our measurements. We modelled species-specific seasonal N input to the ecosystem at the colony and landscape level. Higher mean annual precipitation clearly increased N2 fixation, especially during peak growing season and in feather mosses. For Sphagnum-associated N2 fixation, high mean annual precipitation reversed a small negative warming response. By contrast, in the dry-adapted feather moss species higher mean annual precipitation led to negative warming effects. Modelled total growing season N inputs for Sphagnum spp. colonies were two to three times that of feather mosses at an area basis. However, at the landscape level where feather mosses were more abundant, they contributed 50% more N than Sphagnum. The discrepancy between modelled estimates of species-specific N input via N2 fixation at the moss core versus ecosystem scale, exemplify how moss cover is essential for evaluating impact of altered N2 fixation. Importantly, combined effects of warming and higher mean annual precipitation may not lead to similar responses across moss species, which could affect moss fitness and their abilities to buffer environmental changes.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Wiley & Sons, 2024. Vol. 30, no 7, article id e17401
Keywords [en]
alpine ecosystem, arctic-boreal bryophytes, Hylocomium splendens, landscape scale, moisture, Pleurozium schreberi, Sphagnum, temperature
National Category
Ecology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-228072DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17401Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85199152634OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-228072DiVA, id: diva2:1886264
Funder
The Kempe Foundations, JKC-1112Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, 2017.0298Independent Research Fund Denmark, 0135-00140BEU, Horizon 2020, 797446Danish National Research Foundation, CENPERM DNRF1002024-07-312024-07-312024-07-31Bibliographically approved