Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands
Abstract Grasslands cover approximately a third of the Earth’s land surface and account for about a third of terrestrial carbon storage. Yet, we lack strong predictive models of grassland plant biomass, the primary source of carbon in grasslands. This lack of predictive ability may arise from the as...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Communications Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07518-w |
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| author | Marie Spohn Sumanta Bagchi Jonathan D. Bakker Elizabeth T. Borer Clinton Carbutt Jane A. Catford Christopher R. Dickman Nico Eisenhauer Anu Eskelinen Nicole Hagenah Yann Hautier Sally E. Koerner Kimberly J. Komatsu Lauri Laanisto Ylva Lekberg Jason P. Martina Holly Martinson Meelis Pärtel Pablo L. Peri Anita C. Risch Nicholas G. Smith Carly Stevens G. F. Ciska Veen Risto Virtanen Laura Yahdjian Alyssa L. Young Hillary S. Young Eric W. Seabloom |
| author_facet | Marie Spohn Sumanta Bagchi Jonathan D. Bakker Elizabeth T. Borer Clinton Carbutt Jane A. Catford Christopher R. Dickman Nico Eisenhauer Anu Eskelinen Nicole Hagenah Yann Hautier Sally E. Koerner Kimberly J. Komatsu Lauri Laanisto Ylva Lekberg Jason P. Martina Holly Martinson Meelis Pärtel Pablo L. Peri Anita C. Risch Nicholas G. Smith Carly Stevens G. F. Ciska Veen Risto Virtanen Laura Yahdjian Alyssa L. Young Hillary S. Young Eric W. Seabloom |
| author_sort | Marie Spohn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Grasslands cover approximately a third of the Earth’s land surface and account for about a third of terrestrial carbon storage. Yet, we lack strong predictive models of grassland plant biomass, the primary source of carbon in grasslands. This lack of predictive ability may arise from the assumption of linear relationships between plant biomass and the environment and an underestimation of interactions of environmental variables. Using data from 116 grasslands on six continents, we show unimodal relationships between plant biomass and ecosystem characteristics, such as mean annual precipitation and soil nitrogen. Further, we found that soil nitrogen and plant diversity interacted in their relationships with plant biomass, such that plant diversity and biomass were positively related at low levels of nitrogen and negatively at elevated levels of nitrogen. Our results show that it is critical to account for the interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass and several environmental variables to accurately include plant biomass in global vegetation and carbon models. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f2ef6cd78823467b9779d48672eb6905 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2399-3642 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-f2ef6cd78823467b9779d48672eb69052025-01-26T12:48:23ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Biology2399-36422025-01-018111110.1038/s42003-025-07518-wInteractive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslandsMarie Spohn0Sumanta Bagchi1Jonathan D. Bakker2Elizabeth T. Borer3Clinton Carbutt4Jane A. Catford5Christopher R. Dickman6Nico Eisenhauer7Anu Eskelinen8Nicole Hagenah9Yann Hautier10Sally E. Koerner11Kimberly J. Komatsu12Lauri Laanisto13Ylva Lekberg14Jason P. Martina15Holly Martinson16Meelis Pärtel17Pablo L. Peri18Anita C. Risch19Nicholas G. Smith20Carly Stevens21G. F. Ciska Veen22Risto Virtanen23Laura Yahdjian24Alyssa L. Young25Hillary S. Young26Eric W. Seabloom27Dept of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of ScienceSchool of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of WashingtonDept of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of MinnesotaScientific Services, Ezemvelo KZN WildlifeDept of Geography, King’s College LondonSchool of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of SydneyGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigMammal Research Institute, Dept of Zoology & Entomology, University of PretoriaEcology and Biodiversity Group, Dept of Biology, Utrecht UniversityDept of Biology, University of North Carolina GreensboroDept of Biology, University of North Carolina GreensboroDept of Biodiversity and Nature Tourism, Estonian University of Life SciencesMPG Ranch and University of MontanaDept of Biology, Texas State UniversityDept of Biology, McDaniel CollegeInstitute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, J. Liivi 2National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA)Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLDept of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech UniversityLancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster UniversityDept of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of EcologyEcology & Genetics, University of OuluInstituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura (IFEVA), CONICET, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Buenos AiresDept of Biology, University of North Carolina GreensboroDept Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa BarbaraDept of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of MinnesotaAbstract Grasslands cover approximately a third of the Earth’s land surface and account for about a third of terrestrial carbon storage. Yet, we lack strong predictive models of grassland plant biomass, the primary source of carbon in grasslands. This lack of predictive ability may arise from the assumption of linear relationships between plant biomass and the environment and an underestimation of interactions of environmental variables. Using data from 116 grasslands on six continents, we show unimodal relationships between plant biomass and ecosystem characteristics, such as mean annual precipitation and soil nitrogen. Further, we found that soil nitrogen and plant diversity interacted in their relationships with plant biomass, such that plant diversity and biomass were positively related at low levels of nitrogen and negatively at elevated levels of nitrogen. Our results show that it is critical to account for the interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass and several environmental variables to accurately include plant biomass in global vegetation and carbon models.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07518-w |
| spellingShingle | Marie Spohn Sumanta Bagchi Jonathan D. Bakker Elizabeth T. Borer Clinton Carbutt Jane A. Catford Christopher R. Dickman Nico Eisenhauer Anu Eskelinen Nicole Hagenah Yann Hautier Sally E. Koerner Kimberly J. Komatsu Lauri Laanisto Ylva Lekberg Jason P. Martina Holly Martinson Meelis Pärtel Pablo L. Peri Anita C. Risch Nicholas G. Smith Carly Stevens G. F. Ciska Veen Risto Virtanen Laura Yahdjian Alyssa L. Young Hillary S. Young Eric W. Seabloom Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands Communications Biology |
| title | Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands |
| title_full | Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands |
| title_fullStr | Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands |
| title_full_unstemmed | Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands |
| title_short | Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands |
| title_sort | interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass abiotic factors and plant diversity in global grasslands |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07518-w |
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