The interactive effects of nitrogen addition and increased precipitation on gross ecosystem productivity in an alpine meadow

Abstract The ecological consequences of precipitation change and increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition have profound impacts on ecosystem CO2 exchange in grassland ecosystems. Water and N can largely influence grassland productivity, community composition and ecosystem functions. However, the influences of water and N addition on the ecosystem CO2 exchange of alpine grassland ecosystems remain unclear. A field manipulative experiment with water and N additions was conducted in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau over 4 years with contrasting precipitation patterns. There were four treatments: control (Ctrl), N addition (N), water addition (W) and N and water addition (NW), each replicated three times. N addition, but not water addition, increased gross ecosystem productivity (GEP), plant biomass, community cover and community-weighted mean height. The responses of ecosystem CO2 exchange to water and N addition varied between the wet and dry years. Water addition had a positive effect on net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) due to a larger increase in GEP than in ecosystem respiration (ER) only in the dry year. On the contrary, N addition significantly enhanced ecosystem CO2 exchange only in the wet year. The increased GEP in N addition was attributed to the larger increase in NEE than ER. Moreover, N addition stimulated NEE mainly through increasing the cover of dominant species. Our observations highlight the important roles of precipitation and dominant species in regulating ecosystem CO2 exchange response to global environmental change in alpine grasslands.