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76 results for “nitrogen enrichment”
Long-term nitrogen enrichment mediates the effects of nitrogen supply and co-inoculation on a viral pathogen
Host nutrient supply can mediate host–pathogen and pathogen–pathogen interactions. In terrestrial systems, plant nutrient supply is mediated by soil microbes, suggesting a potential role of soil microbes in plant diseases beyond soil-borne pathogens and induced plant defenses. Long-term nitrogen (N) enrichment can shift pathogenic and non-pathogenic soil microbial community composition and function, but it is unclear if these shifts affect plant–pathogen and pathogen–pathogen interactions. In a growth chamber experiment, we tested the effect of long-term N enrichment on infection by Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV-PAV) and Cereal Yellow Dwarf Virus (CYDV-RPV), aphid-vectored RNA viruses, in a grass host. We inoculated sterilized growing medium with soil collected from a long-term N enrichment experiment (ambient, low, and high N soil treatments) to isolate effects mediated by the soil microbial community. We crossed soil treatments with a nitrogen supply treatment (low, high) and virus inoculation treatment (mock-, singly-, and co-inoculated) to evaluate the effects of long-term N enrichment on plant–pathogen and pathogen–pathogen interactions, as mediated by N availability. BYDV-PAV incidence (0.96) declined with low N soil (to 0.46), high N supply (to 0.61), and co-inoculation (to 0.32). Low N soil mediated the effect of N supply on BYDV-PAV: instead of N supply reducing BYDV-PAV incidence, the incidence increased. In addition, ambient and low N soil ameliorated the negative effect of co-inoculation on BYDV-PAV incidence. BYDV-PAV infection only reduced chlorophyll when plants were grown with low N supply and ambient N soil. Soil inoculant with different levels of long-term N enrichment had different effects on host–pathogen and pathogen–pathogen interactions, suggesting that shifts in the structure and function of soil microbial communities with long-term N enrichment may mediate disease dynamics.
Soil percent nitrogen and carbon: BioCON : Biodiversity, Elevated CO2, and N Enrichment
BioCON (Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen) is an ecological experiment started in 1997 at the University of Minnesota's Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. BioCON's goal is to explore the ways in which plant communities will respond to three environmental changes that are known to be occurring on a global scale: increasing nitrogen deposition, increasing atmospheric CO2, and decreasing biodiversity. Why Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen? While there are many uncertainties in global change biology, there are also some well documented facts. Some of these are: 1. The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is rising. Since the industrial revolution, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased from approximately 275 parts per million (ppm) to about 378 ppm today. This has been largely the result of fossil fuel burning. It is expected that CO2 levels will continue to rise, and that by the year 2050 these levels will be approximately 550 ppm. CO2 is the raw material for photosynthesis and is known to affect plant growth and development. 2. The amount of nitrogen moving through terrestrial ecosystems has increased in the recent past. While natural "background" levels of nitrogen fixation have remained constant, human additions to the system through fertilizer production and fossil fuel use have increased dramatically. Nitrogen is a key nutrient for plant growth and plays a critical role in plant community structure and composition in many environments. 3. Biodiversity levels are falling. While the research and data are not as complete as they are for CO2 and nitrogen, data indicate that the number of species globally, is being reduced. Perhaps more important for ecosystem function, diversity levels on local to regional scales have fallen due to land use change, biotic invasion and many other drivers. While much is known about how each of these factors affects ecosystem functioning, many questions remain. There is also little data on how these issues affe
Nitrogen mineralization rate: BioCON : Biodiversity, Elevated CO2, and N Enrichment
BioCON (Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen) is an ecological experiment started in 1997 at the University of Minnesota's Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. BioCON's goal is to explore the ways in which plant communities will respond to three environmental changes that are known to be occurring on a global scale: increasing nitrogen deposition, increasing atmospheric CO2, and decreasing biodiversity. Why Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen? While there are many uncertainties in global change biology, there are also some well documented facts. Some of these are: 1. The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is rising. Since the industrial revolution, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased from approximately 275 parts per million (ppm) to about 378 ppm today. This has been largely the result of fossil fuel burning. It is expected that CO2 levels will continue to rise, and that by the year 2050 these levels will be approximately 550 ppm. CO2 is the raw material for photosynthesis and is known to affect plant growth and development. 2. The amount of nitrogen moving through terrestrial ecosystems has increased in the recent past. While natural "background" levels of nitrogen fixation have remained constant, human additions to the system through fertilizer production and fossil fuel use have increased dramatically. Nitrogen is a key nutrient for plant growth and plays a critical role in plant community structure and composition in many environments. 3. Biodiversity levels are falling. While the research and data are not as complete as they are for CO2 and nitrogen, data indicate that the number of species globally, is being reduced. Perhaps more important for ecosystem function, diversity levels on local to regional scales have fallen due to land use change, biotic invasion and many other drivers. While much is known about how each of these factors affects ecosystem functioning, many questions remain. There is also little data on how these issues affe
Data from: Opposing responses of temporal stability of aboveground and belowground net primary productivity to water and nitrogen enrichment in a temperate grassland
<p><span>Changes in water and nitrogen availability, as important elements of global environmental change, are known to affect the temporal stability of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP). However, evidences for their effects on the temporal stability of belowground net primary productivity (BNPP), and whether such effects are consistent between belowground and aboveground, are rather scarce. Here, we investigated the responses of temporal stability of both ANPP and BNPP to water and nitrogen addition based on a 9-year manipulative experiment in a temperate grassland in northern China. The results showed that the temporal stability of ANPP increased with water addition but decreased with nitrogen addition. By contrast, the temporal stability of BNPP decreased with water addition but increased with nitrogen enrichment. The temporal stability of ANPP was mainly determined by the soil moisture and inorganic nitrogen, which modulated species asynchrony, as well as by the stability of dominant species. On the other hand, the temporal stability of BNPP was mainly driven by the soil moisture and inorganic nitrogen that modulated ANPP of grasses, and by the direct effect of soil water availability. Our study provides the first evidence on the opposite responses of aboveground and belowground grassland temporal stability to increased water and nitrogen availability, highlighting the importance of considering both aboveground and belowground components of ecosystems for a more comprehensive understanding of their dynamics.</span></p>
Data from: Water regime and nitrogen enrichment facilitate the encroachment of woody plants at various developmental stages in freshwater marshes
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Data from: Opposing responses of temporal stability of aboveground and belowground net primary productivity to water and nitrogen enrichment in a temperate grassland
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Data from: Peatland fungal community responses to nutrient enrichment: a story beyond nitrogen
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Data from: Water controls the divergent responses of terrestrial plant photosynthesis under nitrogen enrichment
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Plant aboveground biomass carbon and nitrogen: BioCON : Biodiversity, Elevated CO2, and N Enrichment
BioCON (Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen) is an ecological experiment started in 1997 at the University of Minnesota's Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. BioCON's goal is to explore the ways in which plant communities will respond to three environmental changes that are known to be occurring on a global scale: increasing nitrogen deposition, increasing atmospheric CO2, and decreasing biodiversity. Why Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen? While there are many uncertainties in global change biology, there are also some well documented facts. Some of these are: 1. The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is rising. Since the industrial revolution, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased from approximately 275 parts per million (ppm) to about 378 ppm today. This has been largely the result of fossil fuel burning. It is expected that CO2 levels will continue to rise, and that by the year 2050 these levels will be approximately 550 ppm. CO2 is the raw material for photosynthesis and is known to affect plant growth and development. 2. The amount of nitrogen moving through terrestrial ecosystems has increased in the recent past. While natural "background" levels of nitrogen fixation have remained constant, human additions to the system through fertilizer production and fossil fuel use have increased dramatically. Nitrogen is a key nutrient for plant growth and plays a critical role in plant community structure and composition in many environments. 3. Biodiversity levels are falling. While the research and data are not as complete as they are for CO2 and nitrogen, data indicate that the number of species globally, is being reduced. Perhaps more important for ecosystem function, diversity levels on local to regional scales have fallen due to land use change, biotic invasion and many other drivers. While much is known about how each of these factors affects ecosystem functioning, many questions remain. There is also little data on how these issues affe
Plant Nitrogen Isotopes: BioCON : Biodiversity, Elevated CO2, and N Enrichment
BioCON (Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen) is an ecological experiment started in 1997 at the University of Minnesota's Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. BioCON's goal is to explore the ways in which plant communities will respond to three environmental changes that are known to be occurring on a global scale: increasing nitrogen deposition, increasing atmospheric CO2, and decreasing biodiversity. Why Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen? While there are many uncertainties in global change biology, there are also some well documented facts. Some of these are: 1. The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is rising. Since the industrial revolution, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased from approximately 275 parts per million (ppm) to about 378 ppm today. This has been largely the result of fossil fuel burning. It is expected that CO2 levels will continue to rise, and that by the year 2050 these levels will be approximately 550 ppm. CO2 is the raw material for photosynthesis and is known to affect plant growth and development. 2. The amount of nitrogen moving through terrestrial ecosystems has increased in the recent past. While natural "background" levels of nitrogen fixation have remained constant, human additions to the system through fertilizer production and fossil fuel use have increased dramatically. Nitrogen is a key nutrient for plant growth and plays a critical role in plant community structure and composition in many environments. 3. Biodiversity levels are falling. While the research and data are not as complete as they are for CO2 and nitrogen, data indicate that the number of species globally, is being reduced. Perhaps more important for ecosystem function, diversity levels on local to regional scales have fallen due to land use change, biotic invasion and many other drivers. While much is known about how each of these factors affects ecosystem functioning, many questions remain. There is also little data on how these issues affe
Nitrogen enrichment stimulates wetland plant responses whereas salt amendments alter sediment microbial communities and biogeochemical responses
<p>Freshwater wetlands of the temperate north are exposed to a range of pollutants that may alter their function, including nitrogen (N)-rich agricultural and urban runoff, seawater intrusion, and road salt contamination, though it is largely unknown how these drivers of change interact with the vegetation to affect wetland carbon (C) fluxes and microbial communities. We implemented a full factorial mesocosm (378.5 L tanks) experiment investigating C-related responses to three common wetland plants of eastern North America (<i>Phragmites australis</i>, <i>Spartina pectinata</i>, <i>Typha latifolia</i>), and four water quality treatments (fresh water control, N, road salt, sea salt). During the 2017 growing season, we quantified carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) and methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) fluxes, above- and below-ground biomass, root porosity, light penetration, pore water chemistry (NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>, NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>, SO<sub>4</sub><sup>-</sup>², Cl<sup>-</sup>, DOC), soil C mineralization, as well as sediment microbial communities via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Relative to freshwater controls, N enrichment stimulated plant biomass, which in turn increased CO<sub>2</sub> uptake and reduced light penetration, especially in <i>Spartina</i> stands. Root porosity was not affected by water quality, but was positively correlated with CH<sub>4 </sub>emissions,<sub> </sub>suggesting that plants can be important conduits for CH<sub>4</sub> from anoxic sediment to the atmosphere. Sediment microbial composition was largely unaffected by N addition, whereas salt amendments induced structural shifts, reduced sediment community diversity, and reduced C mineralization rates, presumably due to osmotic stress. Methane emissions were suppressed by sea salt, but not road salt, providing evidence for the additional chemical control (SO<sub>4</sub><sup>-2</sup> availability) on this microbial-mediated process. Thus, N may have stimulated plant activity while salting treatments preferentially enriched specific microbial populations. Together our findings underpin the utility of combining plant and microbial responses, and highlight the need for more integrative studies to predict the consequences of a changing environment on freshwater wetlands. </p>
Data from: Nitrogen enrichment accelerates mangrove range expansion in the temperate-tropical ecotone
Climate change and nutrient enrichment are two phenomena impacting coastal ecosystems. In coastal wetlands, mangroves in temperate-tropical ecotones are encroaching on adjacent saltmarshes, a pattern that is primarily attributed to warmer winter temperatures. Climate change is also expected to increase the vulnerability of coastal wetlands to eutrophication, and increases in nutrient availability may further mediate the rate of mangrove expansion. We investigated the consequences of nutrient enrichment on coastal wetlands in the mangrove-saltmarsh ecotone near the temperate edge of mangrove distribution along the northeast coast of Florida. We tested the hypothesis that nutrient enrichment enhances the ongoing, climate-driven expansion of mangroves into areas historically dominated by saltmarshes by increasing mangrove growth and cover, allowing them to outcompete and overgrow adjacent saltmarsh plants. We manipulated nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability and measured the effects on growth, cover, diversity, leaf traits and nutrient dynamics of Avicennia germinans. We found that A. germinans shrubs growing in the saltmarsh-mangrove ecotone in northern Florida grew taller, increased their canopies, and had higher reproductive output when enriched with N compared to control plants and P-enriched plants. Nutrient enrichment did not alter Sarcocornia perennis growth, and increased Batis maritima height but did not alter density or biomass. Nitrogen addition caused an increase in A. germinans cover and decreases in B. maritima cover and Simpson's index of diversity, suggesting that N enrichment, an ongoing phenomenon, can hasten the invasion of mangroves into saltmarshes by favoring mangrove growth and reproduction without significantly enhancing saltmarsh plant growth.
Data from: Soil fungi underlie a phylogenetic pattern in plant growth responses to nitrogen enrichment
1. Under increasing anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition, some plant species will thrive while others will not. Previous work has shown that plant phylogeny can predict these responses, and that interactions with mycorrhizal fungi are a mechanism that drives variation in plant responses to N enrichment. Yet, much of this work has ignored the roles of other root-associated fungi and whole soil fungal communities in driving these responses. 2. We tested whether soil fungi mediate responses of plant growth and plant-soil feedbacks (between close and distant plant relatives) to N enrichment by implementing a greenhouse experiment in which we applied factorial treatments of N fertilization, host-specific soil inocula, and fungicide to 15 eucalypt tree species that co-occur on the island state of Tasmania, Australia and form two phylogenetic lineages within the subgenus Symphyomyrtus. 3. Conspecific-conditioned soil fungi enhanced growth responses to N enrichment for plants within one lineage (lineage 1) but depressed growth responses to N enrichment for plants within another lineage (lineage 2). Lineage-specific shifts in ectomycorrhizal (ECM) colonization were consistent with previous evidence that more vs. less successful strategies under N enrichment are those where carbon allocation to mycorrhizal fungi is reduced vs. maintained, respectively. The latter was also accompanied by a stronger reduction in root colonization of non-filamentous fungi (of unknown function) under N enrichment. Plant-soil feedbacks were neutral for lineage 1 but negative for lineage 2 (i.e., greater growth in soils conditioned by opposite vs. same lineage individuals), but were not altered by N enrichment or fungicide. Lineage-level differences in root colonization suggest that these feedbacks could be driven by differential plant responsiveness to dark septate endophytes and non-filamentous fungi, the colonization of which seemed to benefit plant growth. 4. Our results confirm that interactions with soil fungi (ECM fungi in particular) underlie phylogenetic patterns in tree species' growth responses to N enrichment and may thus influence which plants win or lose under future N deposition scenarios. Yet, we provide some of the first evidence (albeit from controlled rather than natural conditions) that N deposition may not play a strong role in shifting plant-soil feedbacks.
Decoupled responses of above- and below-ground beta-diversity to nitrogen enrichment in a typical steppe
<p>Increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition affects biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems. However, we do not know whether the effects of N on above-ground plant β-diversity are coupled with changes occurring in the soil seed bank. We conducted a long-term N-addition experiment in a typical steppe and found that above-ground β-diversity increased and then decreased with increasing N addition, whereas below-ground β-diversity decreased linearly. This suggests decoupled dynamics of plant communities and their soil seed bank under N enrichment. Species substitution determined above- and below-ground β-diversity change via an increasing role of deterministic processes with N addition. These effects were mostly driven by differential responses of the above-ground vegetation and the soil seed bank β-diversities to N-induced changes in environmental heterogeneity, increased soil inorganic N concentrations and soil acidification. Our findings highlight the importance of considering above- and below-ground processes simultaneously for effectively conserving grassland ecosystems under N enrichment.</p>
Trophic regulation of soil microbial biomass under nitrogen enrichment: A global meta-analysis
<p>Eutrophication, including nitrogen (N) enrichment, can affect soil microbial communities through changes in trophic interactions. However, a knowledge gap still exists about how plant resources ('bottom-up effects') and microbial predators ('top-down effects') regulate the impacts of N enrichment on microbial biomass at the global scale.</p> <p>To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a global meta-analysis using 2885 paired observations from 217 publications to evaluate the regulatory effects of plant biomass and soil nematodes on soil microbial biomass under N enrichment across terrestrial ecosystems.</p> <p>We found that the effects of N enrichment on soil microbial biomass strongly varied across ecosystems. N enrichment decreased the soil microbial biomass of natural grasslands and forests due to soil acidification and the subsequent losses of predatory and microbivorous nematodes stimulating microbial growth. By contrast, N enrichment increased the microbial biomass of managed croplands mainly via increasing plant biomass production. The short-term of N enrichment (experimental duration ≤ 5 years) could reduce microbial biomass via decreasing nematode abundance across diverse ecosystems, whereas the long-term of N enrichment (experimental duration > 5 years) mainly promoted microbial biomass via increasing plant biomass.</p> <p>These findings highlight the critical roles of microbial predators and plant input in shaping microbial responses to N enrichment, which are highly dependent on ecosystem type and the period of N enrichment. Earth system models that predict soil microbial biomass and their linkages to soil functioning should consider the variations in plant biomass and soil nematodes under future scenarios of N deposition.</p>
Functional traits explain the consistent resistance of biodiversity to plant invasion under nitrogen enrichment
<p>Elton's biotic resistance hypothesis, which posits that diverse communities should be more resistant to biological invasions, has received considerable experimental support. However, it remains unclear whether such a negative diversity–invasibility relationship would persist under anthropogenic environmental change. By using the common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) as a model invader, our four-year grassland experiment demonstrated consistently negative relationships between resident species diversity and community invasibility, irrespective of nitrogen addition, a result further supported by a meta-analysis. Importantly, our experiment showed that plant diversity consistently resisted invasion simultaneously through increased resident biomass, increased trait dissimilarity among residents, and increased community weighted means of resource-conservative traits that strongly resist invasion, pointing to the importance of both trait complementarity and sampling effects for invasion resistance even under resource enrichment. Our study provides unique evidence that considering species functional traits can help further our understanding of biotic resistance to biological invasions in a changing environment.</p>
More soil organic carbon is sequestered through the mycelium-pathway than through the root-pathway under nitrogen enrichment in an alpine forest
<p><span>Plant roots and associated mycorrhizae exert a large influence on soil carbon (C) cycling. Yet, little was known whether and how roots and </span><span>ectomycorrhizal</span><span> extraradical mycelia differentially contribute to soil organic C (SOC) accumulation in alpine forests under increasing nitrogen (N) deposition. Using ingrowth cores, the relative contributions of the root-pathway (RP) (i.e., roots and rhizosphere processes) and mycelium-pathway (MP) (i.e., extraradical mycelia and hyphosphere processes) to SOC accumulation were distinguished and quantified in an ectomycorrhizal-dominated forest receiving chronic N addition (25 kg N ha<sup>-1</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup>). Under the non-N addition, the RP facilitated SOC accumulation, while the MP reduced SOC accumulation. Nitrogen addition enhanced the positive effect of RP on SOC accumulation from +18.02 mg C g<sup>-1</sup> to +20.55 mg C g<sup>-1</sup> but counteracted the negative effect of MP on SOC accumulation from -5.62 mg C g<sup>-1</sup> to -0.57 mg C g<sup>-1</sup>, as compared to the non-N addition. Compared to the non-N addition, the N-induced SOC accumulation was 1.62~2.21 mg C g<sup>-1</sup> and 3.23~4.74 mg C g<sup>-1</sup>, in the RP and the MP, respectively. The greater contribution of MP to SOC accumulation was mainly attributed to the higher microbial C pump (MCP) efficacy (the proportion of</span><span> increased microbial residual C to the increased SOC under N addition) in the MP (72.5%) relative to the RP (57%). The higher MCP efficacy in the MP was mainly associated with the higher fungal metabolic activity (i.e., the greater fungal biomass and N-acetyl glucosidase activity) and greater binding efficiency of fungal residual C to mineral surfaces than those of RP. Collectively, our findings highlight the indispensable role of mycelia and hyphosphere processes in the formation and accumulation of stable SOC in the context of increasing N deposition.</span></p>
Phenological and physiological advantages of invasive annuals are strengthened by nitrogen enrichment
<p>Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition exerts profound influence on the composition and function of native ecosystems, commonly resulting in reduced plant richness and increases in nonnative plant invasion. Identifying differences in plant N responses and functional traits could help to explain the ongoing invasion and biological impoverishment of ecosystems subject to N deposition.</p> <p>We compared the growth, emergence phenology, and functional traits of thirty native and invasive annual plant species under high and low N availability, with the goal of evaluating if invasives exhibit functionally dissimilar responses to N compared to the native species they displace.</p> <p>Invasives grew larger than natives, especially under increased N availability. Overall, invasives and natives did not differ in emergence phenology. However, these groups of species differed in relationships between growth and days to emergence, and N addition further strengthened these differences; invasives consistently grew larger than natives that emerged around the same time, while natives showed a strong negative effect of delayed emergence on plant growth.</p> <p>Relative N responses for measures of plant growth and allocation did not differ between native and invasive species, but invasives exhibited greater plasticity in physiological traits. This included significantly lower leaf N content, higher CN ratios, and greater water-use efficiency (WUE) in plants grown under high N. Invasives also showed functionally different patterns of growth and water use. Across species, invasives showed a positive relationship between shoot growth and WUE. Native species showed a tradeoff between root allocation and WUE, while invasives displayed high values for WUE even despite reduced root:shoot ratios under high N.</p> <p>Our results highlight the ability of invasives to rapidly accrue biomass, disproportionately benefit from early emergence and N addition, and use water efficiently despite rapid growth. Natives, on the other hand, pay a higher cost for delayed emergence and may experience tradeoffs between growth and water-use. The more pronounced functional differences between natives and invasives observed under high N likely play an important role in driving invasion and reduced species diversity under N enrichment. These differences could be used to inform successful management strategies for N-impacted and water-limited ecosystems.</p>
Data from: Nitrogen enrichment alters multiple dimensions of grassland functional stability via changing compositional stability
<p>Anthropogenic nutrient enrichment is known to alter the composition and functioning of plant communities. However, how nutrient enrichment influences multiple dimensions of community- and ecosystem-level stability remains poorly understood. Using data from a nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) addition experiment in a temperate semi-arid grassland that experienced a natural drought, we show that N enrichment, not P enrichment, decreased grassland functional and compositional temporal stability, resistance, and recovery, but increased functional and compositional resilience. Compositional stability and species asynchrony, rather than species diversity, were identified as key determinants of all dimensions of grassland functional stability, except for recovery. Whereas grassland functional recovery was decoupled from compositional recovery, N enrichment altered other dimensions of functional stability primarily through changing their corresponding compositional stability dimensions. Our findings highlight the need to examine ecological stability at the community level for a more mechanistic understanding of ecosystem dynamics in the face of environmental change.</p>
Decomposition disentangled: a test of the multiple mechanisms by which nitrogen enrichment alters litter decomposition
<ol> <li>Nitrogen (N) enrichment has direct effects on ecosystem functioning by altering soil abiotic conditions and indirect effects by reducing plant diversity and shifting plant functional composition from dominance by slow to fast growing species. Litter decomposition is a key ecosystem function and is affected by N enrichment either by a change in litter quality (the recalcitrance of the plant material) or through a change in soil quality (the abiotic and biotic components of the soil that affect decomposition). How the direct and indirect effects of N alter soil and litter quality remains poorly known.</li> <li>We designed a large grassland field experiment manipulating N enrichment, plant species richness and functional composition in a full factorial design. We used three complementary litterbag experiments, combined in a structural equation model (SEM), to quantify the effects of the treatments and various measures of functional composition and diversity on litter and soil quality and overall decomposition.</li> <li>Our results revealed multiple drivers of litter quality and showed that nutrient concentrations (N and calcium) were about twice as important as structural components (leaf dry matter content, fibres) in determining litter quality. Overall the experimental results suggest that N enrichment increases litter decomposition mostly indirectly through a shift in functional composition toward faster growing plant species, producing higher quality litter. N enrichment also altered soil quality and thereby litter decomposition, through its effects on vegetation cover.</li> <li>Our approach provides a mechanistic tool to test the drivers of litter decomposition across different ecosystems. Our results show that litter quality is determined by several nutrient and structure traits and highlight the importance of considering shifts in plant species composition when assessing the effects of N enrichment on decomposition.</li> </ol>
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