naa a22 4500 510737250 CHVBK 20180411083015.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180411e20130101xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11284-012-0994-9 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11284-012-0994-9 Effects of additional N on herbaceous species of desertified steppe in arid regions of China: a four-year field study [Elektronische Daten] [Jieqiong Su, Xinrong Li, Xiaojun Li, Li Feng] Human-induced nitrogen (N) enrichment is impacting the structure and function of grassland ecosystems, although few studies have been conducted in arid and semi-arid ecosystems under field conditions. Here, a 4-year multi-level N addition experiment under ambient precipitation in a typical temperate desert steppe in arid regions of China was designed to evaluate the impact of N enrichment on the herbaceous vegetation community in desert ecosystems. The results showed that species richness declined in response to N addition during all 4years, while aboveground biomass increased in the relatively wet year (2007) and decreased in the relatively dry years (2008-2010) according to N addition level, as compared to the control. Plant community composition differed among plant functional groups (PFGs) based on added N. Perennial grasses (PG) benefited more compared with annuals and perennial forbs (PF) from N enrichment in terms of biomass production under conditions of high precipitation in 2007. In relatively dry years, biomass production of all PFGs was strictly dependent on inter- and intra-annual precipitation, which led PG to dominate in 2008 (with a dry spring) and PF to dominate in 2009 and 2010. Our results demonstrate that the impact of N enrichment on the herbaceous vegetation community in desert steppes may be strongly dependent on natural precipitation patterns characterized by shifts in plant community composition, particularly in terms of biomass production. The Ecological Society of Japan, 2012 Desert steppe nationallicence Herbaceous plant nationallicence N deposition nationallicence Plant community composition nationallicence Precipitation pattern nationallicence Su Jieqiong Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, 730000, Lanzhou, China aut Li Xinrong Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, 730000, Lanzhou, China aut Li Xiaojun Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, 730000, Lanzhou, China aut Feng Li Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, 730000, Lanzhou, China aut Ecological Research Springer Japan 28/1(2013-01-01), 21-28 0912-3814 28:1<21 2013 28 11284 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-012-0994-9 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-012-0994-9 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Su Jieqiong Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, 730000, Lanzhou, China aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Li Xinrong Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, 730000, Lanzhou, China aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Li Xiaojun Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, 730000, Lanzhou, China aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Feng Li Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, 730000, Lanzhou, China aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Ecological Research Springer Japan 28/1(2013-01-01), 21-28 0912-3814 28:1<21 2013 28 11284 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer