title: Disentangling climate from soil nutrient effects on plant biomass production using a multispecies phytometer
Creators: name: Wilfahrt, Peter
name: Schweiger, Andreas
name: Abrantes, Nelson
name: Arfin Khan, Mohammed Abu Sayed
name: Bahn, Michael
name: Berauer, Bernd
name: Bierbaumer, Michael
name: Djukic, Ika
name: van Dusseldorp, Marleen
name: Eibes, Pia
name: Estiarte, Marc
name: von Heßberg, Andreas
name: Holub, Petr
name: Ingrisch, Johannes
name: Schmidt, Inger K.
name: Kesic, Lazar
name: Klem, Karel
name: Kröel-Dulay, György
name: Larsen, Klaus S
name: Lõhmus, Krista
name: Mänd, Pille
name: Orbán, Ildikó
name: Orlovic, Sasa
name: Peñuelas, Josep
name: Reinthaler, David
name: Radujković, Dajana
name: Schuchardt, Max A.
name: Schweiger, Julienne
name: Stojnic, Srdjan
name: Tietema, Albert
name: Urban, Otmar
name: Vicca, Sara
name: Jentsch, Anke
Publisher: name: University of Bayreuth
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: aridity
subject: climate gradient
subject: nitrogen
subject: nutrient availability
subject: phosphorus
subject: phytometer
subject: plant productivity
subject: resource limitation
subject: 550

description: Plant community biomass production is co-dependent on climatic and edaphic factors that are often covarying and non-independent. Disentangling how these factors act in isolation is challenging, especially along large climatic gradients that can mask soil effects. As anthropogenic pressure increasingly alters local climate and soil resource supply unevenly across landscapes, our ability to predict concurrent changes in plant community processes requires clearer understandings of independent and interactive effects of climate and soil. To address this, we developed a multispecies phytometer (i.e., standardized plant community) for separating key drivers underlying plant productivity across gradients. Phytometers were composed of three globally cosmopolitan herbaceous perennials, Dactylis glomerata, Plantago lanceolata, and Trifolium pratense. In 2017, we grew phytometer communities in 18 sites across a pan-European aridity gradient in local site soils and a standardized substrate and compared biomass production. Standard substrate phytometers succeeded in providing a standardized climate biomass response independent of local soil effects. This allowed us to factor out climate effects in local soil phytometers, establishing that nitrogen availability did not predict biomass production, while phosphorus availability exerted a strong, positive effect independent of climate. Additionally, we identified a negative relationship between biomass production and potassium and magnesium availability. Species-specific biomass responses to the environment in the climate-corrected biomass were asynchronous, demonstrating the importance of species interactions in vegetation responses to global change. Biomass production was co-limited by climatic and soil drivers, with each species experiencing its own unique set of co-limitations. Our study demonstrates the potential of phytometers for disentangling effects of climate and soil on plant biomass production and suggests an increasing role of P limitation in the temperate regions of Europe.