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Abstract
Living plants maintain a balance of multiple chemical elements for optimal growth and reproduction. A meta-analysis now shows that terrestrial plant N:P ratios decrease with increased atmospheric CO2, rainfall, and P fertilization, but increase with warming, drought, and N fertilization. Living organisms maintain a balance of chemical elements for optimal growth and reproduction, which plays an important role in global biogeochemical cycles1,2,3,4,5. Human domination of Earth’s ecosystems has led to drastic global changes6,7,8, but it is unclear how these affect the stoichiometric coupling of nutrients in terrestrial plants, the most important food source on Earth. Here we use meta-analyses of 1,418 published studies to show that the ratio of terrestrial plant nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (P) decreases with elevated concentrations of CO2, increasing rainfall, and P fertilization, but increases with warming, drought, and N fertilization. Our analyses also reveal that multiple global change treatments generally result in overall additive effects of single-factor treatments and that the responses of plant nutrients and their stoichiometry are similar in direction, but often greater in controlled than in natural environments. Our results suggest a decoupling of the P biogeochemical cycle from N in terrestrial plants under global changes6,7,8, which in turn may diminish the provision of ecosystem services1,5,9.Cite this article
Yuan, Z., Chen, H. Decoupling of nitrogen and phosphorus in terrestrial plants associated with global changes. Nature Clim Change 5, 465–469 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2549 