Premium
Decoupling of nutrient cycles in a Eucalyptus woodland under elevated CO 2
Author(s) -
OchoaHueso Raúl,
Piñeiro Juan,
Power Sally A.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.452
H-Index - 181
eISSN - 1365-2745
pISSN - 0022-0477
DOI - 10.1111/1365-2745.13219
Subject(s) - nutrient , biogeochemical cycle , ecosystem , woodland , nutrient cycle , environmental science , ecology , eucalyptus , biology
Elevated atmospheric [CO 2 ] (eCO 2 ) is currently altering nutrient cycling and availability in ecosystems worldwide. If the availabilities and turnover rates of macro‐ and micronutrients are differentially affected, then nutrient cycles may become out of sync (i.e., decoupled). We evaluated the impacts of 3 years of eCO 2 (550 µmol CO 2 /mol) on the availability, stability and coupling of eleven essential macro and micronutrients in a mature, P‐limited Eucalyptus woodland from Eastern Australia (EucFACE). Despite increases in N and P availability in the first 18 months of study, nutrient availabilities and their stoichiometric ratios were unaffected by eCO 2 across the study period (26–57 months of experimental duration). In contrast, the stability of nutrient availability increased under eCO 2 , which was concomitant with a reduction in the degree of biogeochemical coupling. Synthesis . We demonstrate that macro‐ and micro‐nutrient cycles can quickly become out of sync (i.e., decoupled) under eCO 2 in a low‐nutrient Australian eucalypt woodland, despite the lack of consistent effects on nutrient availability; such decoupling of nutrient cycles may have unpredicted consequences in terms of ecosystem functioning under the widely assumed positive relationship between biogeochemical coupling and ecosystem functioning.