Multi-ecosystem services differently affected by over-canopy and understory nitrogen additions in a typical subtropical forest.

Obtaining a holistic understanding of the impacts of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on multiple ecosystem services of forest is essential for developing comprehensive and sustainable strategies, particularly in heavy N deposition regions such as subtropical China. However, such impacts remain incompletely understood, with most previous studies focus on individual ecosystem function or service via understory N addition experiments. To address this knowledge gap, we quantified the effects of over-canopy and understory N additions on multiple ecosystem services based on a 7-year large-scale field experiment in a typical subtropical forest. Our results showed continued over-canopy N addition with 50 kg ha-1 year-1 over a period of 4-7 years significantly increased plant nutrient retention, but did not affect the services of soil nutrient accumulation, water yield, C sequestration (in plants and soil), or oxygen release. There were trade-offs between the soil and plant on providing the services of nutrient accumulation/retention and C sequestration under over-canopy N addition. However, without uptake and retention of tree canopy, the trade-off between soil and plant were more weaken under the understory N addition with 50 kg ha-1 year-1 , and their relationships were even synergetic under the understory N addition with 25 kg ha-1 year-1 . The results suggest that understory N addition cannot accurately simulate the effects of atmospheric N deposition on multiple services, along with mutual relationships. Interestingly, the services of plant N, P retention, and C sequestration exhibited a synergetic increase under the over-canopy N addition but a decrease under the understory N addition. Our results also found tree layer plays a primary role in providing plant nutrient retention service and is sensitive to atmospheric N deposition. Further studies are needed to investigate the generalized effects of forest canopy processes on alleviating the threaten of global change factors in different forest ecosystems.

Net greenhouse gas balance in U.S. croplands: How can soils be part of the climate solution?

Agricultural soils play a dual role in regulating the Earth's climate by releasing or sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2 ) in soil organic carbon (SOC) and emitting non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as nitrous oxide (N2 O) and methane (CH4 ). To understand how agricultural soils can play a role in climate solutions requires a comprehensive assessment of net soil GHG balance (i.e., sum of SOC-sequestered CO2 and non-CO2 GHG emissions) and the underlying controls. Herein, we used a model-data integration approach to understand and quantify how natural and anthropogenic factors have affected the magnitude and spatiotemporal variations of the net soil GHG balance in U.S. croplands during 1960-2018. Specifically, we used the dynamic land ecosystem model for regional simulations and used field observations of SOC sequestration rates and N2 O and CH4 emissions to calibrate, validate, and corroborate model simulations. Results show that U.S. agricultural soils sequestered 13.2 ± 1.16 $$ 13.2\pm 1.16 $$ Tg CO2 -C year-1 in SOC (at a depth of 3.5 m) during 1960-2018 and emitted 0.39 ± 0.02 $$ 0.39\pm 0.02 $$ Tg N2 O-N year-1 and 0.21 ± 0.01 $$ 0.21\pm 0.01 $$ Tg CH4 -C year-1 , respectively. Based on the GWP100 metric (global warming potential on a 100-year time horizon), the estimated national net GHG emission rate from agricultural soils was 122.3 ± 11.46 $$ 122.3\pm 11.46 $$ Tg CO2 -eq year-1 , with the largest contribution from N2 O emissions. The sequestered SOC offset ~28% of the climate-warming effects resulting from non-CO2 GHG emissions, and this offsetting effect increased over time. Increased nitrogen fertilizer use was the dominant factor contributing to the increase in net GHG emissions during 1960-2018, explaining ~47% of total changes. In contrast, reduced cropland area, the adoption of agricultural conservation practices (e.g., reduced tillage), and rising atmospheric CO2 levels attenuated net GHG emissions from U.S. croplands. Improving management practices to mitigate N2 O emissions represents the biggest opportunity for achieving net-zero emissions in U.S. croplands. Our study highlights the importance of concurrently quantifying SOC-sequestered CO2 and non-CO2 GHG emissions for developing effective agricultural climate change mitigation measures.

Multiple constraints cause positive and negative feedbacks limiting grassland soil CO2 efflux under CO2 enrichment.

Terrestrial ecosystems are increasingly enriched with resources such as atmospheric CO2 that limit ecosystem processes. The consequences for ecosystem carbon cycling depend on the feedbacks from other limiting resources and plant community change, which remain poorly understood for soil CO2 efflux, JCO2, a primary carbon flux from the biosphere to the atmosphere. We applied a unique CO2 enrichment gradient (250 to 500 µL L-1) for eight years to grassland plant communities on soils from different landscape positions. We identified the trajectory of JCO2 responses and feedbacks from other resources, plant diversity [effective species richness, exp(H)], and community change (plant species turnover). We found linear increases in JCO2 on an alluvial sandy loam and a lowland clay soil, and an asymptotic increase on an upland silty clay soil. Structural equation modeling identified CO2 as the dominant limitation on JCO2 on the clay soil. In contrast with theory predicting limitation from a single limiting factor, the linear JCO2 response on the sandy loam was reinforced by positive feedbacks from aboveground net primary productivity and exp(H), while the asymptotic JCO2 response on the silty clay arose from a net negative feedback among exp(H), species turnover, and soil water potential. These findings support a multiple resource limitation view of the effects of global change drivers on grassland ecosystem carbon cycling and highlight a crucial role for positive or negative feedbacks between limiting resources and plant community structure. Incorporating these feedbacks will improve models of terrestrial carbon sequestration and ecosystem services.

Cross-scale spatial variability and associations of carbon pools provide insight into regulating carbon sequestration in tropical montane rainforests.

The spatial distribution of plant, soil, and microbial carbon pools, along with their intricate interactions, presents a great challenge for the current carbon cycle research. However, it is not clear what are the characteristics of the spatial variability of these carbon pools, particularly their cross-scale relationships. We investigated the cross-scale spatial variability of microbial necromass carbon (MNC), soil organic carbon (SOC) and plant biomass (PB), as well as their correlation in a tropical montane rainforest using multifractal analysis. The results showed multifractal spatial variations of MNC, SOC, and PB, demonstrating their adherence to power-law scaling. MNC, especially low MNC, exhibited stronger spatial heterogeneity and weaker evenness compared with SOC and PB. The cross-scale correlation between MNC and SOC was stronger than their correlations at the measurement scale. Furthermore, the cross-scale spatial variability of MNC and SOC exhibited stronger and more stable correlations than those with PB. Additionally, this research suggests that when SOC and PB are both low, it is advisable for reforestations to potentiate MNC formation, whereas when both SOC and PB are high some thinning can be advisable to favour MNC formation. Thus, these results support the utilization of management measures such as reforestation or thinning as nature-based solutions to regulate carbon sequestration capacity of tropical forests by affecting the correlations among various carbon pools.

Differential responses and mechanistic controls of soil phosphorus transformation in Eucalyptus plantations with N fertilization and introduced N2 -fixing tree species.

Introducing N2 -fixing tree species into Eucalyptus plantations could replace nitrogen (N) fertilization to maintain high levels of N consumption and productivity. However, N enrichment may exacerbate phosphorus (P) limitation as Eucalyptus robusta Smith is extensively planted in P-poor tropical and subtropical soils. We conducted a field experiment in a pure plantation of Eucalyptus urophylla × grandis to investigate the impacts of N fertilization and introduced an N2 -fixing tree of Dalbergia odorifera T. Chen on soil P transformation. Nitrogen fertilization significantly enhanced soil occluded P pool and reduced the other P pools due to acidification-induced pH-sensitive geochemical processes, lowering Eucalyptus leaf P concentration with higher N : P ratio. By contrast, introduced N2 -fixing tree species did not change soil pH, labile inorganic P pool, and Eucalyptus leaf N : P ratio, even enhanced organic P pools and reduced occluded P pool probably due to altering microbial community composition particularly stimulating arbuscular mycorrhiza fungal abundance. Our results revealed differential responses and mechanistic controls of soil P transformation in Eucalyptus plantations with N fertilization and introduced N2 -fixing tree species. The dissolution of occluded P pool along with organic P accumulation observed in the mixed plantations may represent a promising future to better manage soil P availability.

Significant effects of precipitation frequency on soil respiration and its components-A global synthesis.

Global warming intensifies the hydrological cycle, which results in changes in precipitation regime (frequency and amount), and will likely have significant impacts on soil respiration (Rs ). Although the responses of Rs to changes in precipitation amount have been extensively studied, there is little consensus on how Rs will be affected by changes in precipitation frequency (PF) across the globe. Here, we synthesized the field observations from 296 published papers to quantify the effects of PF on Rs and its components using meta-analysis. Our results indicated that the effects of PF on Rs decreased with an increase in background mean annual precipitation. When the data were grouped by climate conditions, increased PF showed positive effects on Rs under the arid condition but not under the semi-humid or humid conditions, whereas decreased PF suppressed Rs across all the climate conditions. The positive effects of increased PF mainly resulted from the positive response of heterotrophic respiration under the arid condition while the negative effects of decreased PF were mainly attributed to the reductions in root biomass and respiration. Overall, our global synthesis provided for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the divergent effects of PF on Rs and its components across climate regions. This study also provided a framework for understanding and modeling responses of ecosystem carbon cycling to global precipitation change.

Spatial variation of soil seed banks along a gradient of anthropogenic disturbances in tropical forests on coral islands.

Poor regeneration of natural vegetation is a major factor contributing to the degradation of tropical coral islands. Soil seed banks (SSB) are important for maintaining the resilience of plant communities. However, the community characteristics and spatial distribution of SSBs and the controlling factors along human disturbance on coral islands are unclear. To fill this gap, we measured the community structure and spatial distributions of forest SSBs on three coral islands in the South China Sea, with varying degrees of human disturbance. The results showed that strong human disturbance increased the diversity, richness, and density of SSBs, as well as increased the richness of invasive species. With increased human disturbance, the heterogeneity pattern of SSBs spatial distribution changed from difference between forest east and west to forest center and edge. The similarity between the SSBs and above-ground vegetation also increased, and the distribution of invasive species extended from the edge to the central area of the forests, demonstrating that human disturbance limited the outward dispersal of seeds of resident species but increased the inward dispersal of seeds of invasive species. Interaction between soil properties, plant characteristics, and human disturbance explained 23-45% of the spatial variation of forest SSBs on the coral islands. However, human disturbance reduced the correlations of plant communities and spatial distribution of SSBs with soil factors (i.e., available phosphorus and total nitrogen) and increased the correlations of the community characteristics of SSB with landscape heterogeneity index, road distance, and shrub and litter cover. Resident seed dispersal on tropical coral islands might be enhanced by reducing building height, constructing buildings in down-wind locations, and preserving corridors that support animal movement among forest fragments.

Depth-driven responses of microbial residual carbon to nitrogen addition approaches in a tropical forest: Canopy addition versus understory addition.

Canopies play an important role in nitrogen (N) redistribution in forest ecosystems, and ignoring the canopy's role might bias estimates of the ecological consequences of anthropogenic atmospheric N deposition. We investigated the effects of the approach of N addition (Canopy addition vs. Understory addition) and level of N addition (25 kg N ha-1yr-1 vs. 50 kg N ha-1yr-1) on microbial residual carbon (MRC) accumulation in topsoil and subsoil. We found that the response of MRC to both approach and level of N addition varied greatly with soil depth in a tropical forest over eight years of continuous N addition. Specifically, N addition enhanced the accumulation of fungal and total MRC and their contribution to soil organic C (SOC) pools in the topsoil, whereas it decreased the contribution of fungal and total MRC to SOC in the subsoil. The contrasting effects of N addition on MRC contribution at varying soil depths were associated with the distinct response of microbial residues production. Understory N addition showed overall greater effects on MRC accumulation than canopy N addition did. Our results suggest that the canopy plays an important role in buffering the impacts of anthropogenic atmospheric N deposition on soil C cycling in tropical forests. The depth-dependent response of microbial residues to N addition also highlights the urgent need for further studies of different response mechanisms at different soil depths.

Increased precipitation and nitrogen addition accelerate the temporal increase in soil respiration during 8-year old-field grassland succession.

Ecological succession after disturbance plays a vital role in influencing ecosystem structure and functioning. However, how global change factors regulate ecosystem carbon (C) cycling in successional plant communities remains largely elusive. As part of an 8-year (2012-2019) manipulative experiment, this study was designed to examine the responses of soil respiration and its heterotrophic component to simulated increases in precipitation and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition in an old-field grassland undergoing secondary succession. Over the 8-year experimental period, increased precipitation stimulated soil respiration by 11.6%, but did not affect soil heterotrophic respiration. Nitrogen addition increased both soil respiration (5.1%) and heterotrophic respiration (6.2%). Soil respiration and heterotrophic respiration linearly increased with time in the control plots, resulting from changes in soil moisture and shifts of plant community composition from grass-forb codominance to grass dominance in this old-field grassland. Compared to the control, increased precipitation significantly strengthened the temporal increase in soil respiration through stimulating belowground net primary productivity. By contrast, N addition accelerated temporal increases in both soil respiration and its heterotrophic component by driving plant community shifts and thus stimulating soil organic C. Our findings indicate that increases in water and N availabilities may accelerate soil C release during old-field grassland succession and reduce their potential positive impacts on soil C accumulation under future climate change scenarios.

Mycorrhizal fungi alleviate acidification-induced phosphorus limitation: Evidence from a decade-long field experiment of simulated acid deposition in a tropical forest in south China.

South China has been experiencing very high rate of acid deposition and severe soil acidification in recent decades, which has been proposed to exacerbate the regional ecosystem phosphorus (P) limitation. We conducted a 10-year field experiment of simulated acid deposition to examine how acidification impacts seasonal changes of different soil P fractions in a tropical forest with highly acidic soils in south China. As expected, acid addition significantly increased occluded P pool but reduced the other more labile P pools in the dry season. In the wet season, however, acid addition did not change microbial P, soluble P and labile organic P pools. Acid addition significantly increased exchangeable Al3+ and Fe3+ and the activation of Fe oxides in both seasons. Different from the decline of microbial abundance in the dry season, acid addition increased ectomycorrhizal fungi and its ratio to arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi in the wet season, which significantly stimulated phosphomonoesterase activities and likely promoted the dissolution of occluded P. Our results suggest that, even in already highly acidic soils, the acidification-induced P limitation could be alleviated by stimulating ectomycorrhizal fungi and phosphomonoesterase activities. The differential responses and microbial controls of seasonal soil P transformation revealed here should be implemented into ecosystem biogeochemical model for predicting plant productivity under future acid deposition scenarios.

Stimulation of ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances by nitrogen loading: Poor predictability for increased soil N2 O emission.

Unprecedented nitrogen (N) inputs into terrestrial ecosystems have profoundly altered soil N cycling. Ammonia oxidizers and denitrifiers are the main producers of nitrous oxide (N2 O), but it remains unclear how ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances will respond to N loading and whether their responses can predict N-induced changes in soil N2 O emission. By synthesizing 101 field studies worldwide, we showed that N loading significantly increased ammonia oxidizer abundance by 107% and denitrifier abundance by 45%. The increases in both ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances were primarily explained by N loading form, and more specifically, organic N loading had stronger effects on their abundances than mineral N loading. Nitrogen loading increased soil N2 O emission by 261%, whereas there was no clear relationship between changes in soil N2 O emission and shifts in ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances. Our field-based results challenge the laboratory-based hypothesis that increased ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances by N loading would directly cause higher soil N2 O emission. Instead, key abiotic factors (mean annual precipitation, soil pH, soil C:N ratio, and ecosystem type) explained N-induced changes in soil N2 O emission. Altogether, these findings highlight the need for considering the roles of key abiotic factors in regulating soil N transformations under N loading to better understand the microbially mediated soil N2 O emission.

Divergent responses of primary production to increasing precipitation variability in global drylands.

Interannual variability in precipitation has increased globally as climate warming intensifies. The increased variability impacts both terrestrial plant production and carbon (C) sequestration. However, mechanisms driving these changes are largely unknown. Here, we examined mechanisms underlying the response of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) to interannual precipitation variability in global drylands with mean annual precipitation (MAP) <500 mm year-1 , using a combined approach of data synthesis and process-based modeling. We found a hump-shaped response of ANPP to precipitation variability along the MAP gradient. The response was positive when MAP < ~300 mm year-1 and negative when MAP was higher than this threshold, with a positive peak at 140 mm year-1 . Transpiration and subsoil water content mirrored the response of ANPP to precipitation variability; evaporation responded negatively and water loss through runoff and drainage responded positively to precipitation variability. Mean annual temperature, soil type, and plant physiological traits all altered the magnitude but not the pattern of the response of ANPP to precipitation variability along the MAP gradient. By extrapolating to global drylands (<500 mm year-1  MAP), we estimated that ANPP would increase by 15.2 ± 6.0 Tg C year-1 in arid and hyper-arid lands and decrease by 2.1 ± 0.5 Tg C year-1 in dry sub-humid lands under future changes in interannual precipitation variability. Thus, increases in precipitation variability will enhance primary production in many drylands in the future.

Phosphorus addition decreases microbial residual contribution to soil organic carbon pool in a tropical coastal forest.

The soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability often constrains soil carbon (C) pool, and elevated N deposition could further intensify soil P limitation, which may affect soil C cycling in these N-rich and P-poor ecosystems. Soil microbial residues may not only affect soil organic carbon (SOC) pool but also impact SOC stability through soil aggregation. However, how soil nutrient availability and aggregate fractions affect microbial residues and the microbial residue contribution to SOC is still not well understood. We took advantage of a 10-year field fertilization experiment to investigate the effects of nutrient additions, soil aggregate fractions, and their interactions on the concentrations of soil microbial residues and their contribution to SOC accumulation in a tropical coastal forest. We found that continuous P addition greatly decreased the concentrations of microbial residues and their contribution to SOC, whereas N addition had no significant effect. The P-stimulated decreases in microbial residues and their contribution to SOC were presumably due to enhanced recycling of microbial residues via increased activity of residue-decomposing enzymes. The interactive effects between soil aggregate fraction and nutrient addition were not significant, suggesting a weak role of physical protection by soil aggregates in mediating microbial responses to altered soil nutrient availability. Our data suggest that the mechanisms driving microbial residue responses to increased N and P availability might be different, and the P-induced decrease in the contribution of microbial residues might be unfavorable for the stability of SOC in N-rich and P-poor tropical forests. Such information is critical for understanding the role of tropical forests in the global carbon cycle.

Elevated CO2 does not stimulate carbon sink in a semi-arid grassland.

Elevated CO2 is widely accepted to enhance terrestrial carbon sink, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. However, great uncertainties exist for the CO2 fertilisation effects, particularly when its interactions with other global change factors are considered. A four-factor (CO2 , temperature, precipitation and nitrogen) experiment revealed that elevated CO2 did not affect either gross ecosystem productivity or ecosystem respiration, and consequently resulted in no changes of net ecosystem productivity in a semi-arid grassland despite whether temperature, precipitation and nitrogen were elevated or not. The observations could be primarily attributable to the offset of ecosystem carbon uptake by enhanced soil carbon release under CO2 enrichment. Our findings indicate that arid and semi-arid ecosystems may not be sensitive to CO2 enrichment as previously expected and highlight the urgent need to incorporate this mechanism into most IPCC carbon-cycle models for convincing projection of terrestrial carbon sink and its feedback to climate change.

Responses of soil carbon sequestration to climate-smart agriculture practices: A meta-analysis.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) management practices (e.g., conservation tillage, cover crops, and biochar applications) have been widely adopted to enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring crop productivity. However, current measurements regarding the influences of CSA management practices on SOC sequestration diverge widely, making it difficult to derive conclusions about individual and combined CSA management effects and bringing large uncertainties in quantifying the potential of the agricultural sector to mitigate climate change. We conducted a meta-analysis of 3,049 paired measurements from 417 peer-reviewed articles to examine the effects of three common CSA management practices on SOC sequestration as well as the environmental controlling factors. We found that, on average, biochar applications represented the most effective approach for increasing SOC content (39%), followed by cover crops (6%) and conservation tillage (5%). Further analysis suggested that the effects of CSA management practices were more pronounced in areas with relatively warmer climates or lower nitrogen fertilizer inputs. Our meta-analysis demonstrated that, through adopting CSA practices, cropland could be an improved carbon sink. We also highlight the importance of considering local environmental factors (e.g., climate and soil conditions and their combination with other management practices) in identifying appropriate CSA practices for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring crop productivity.

Asymmetric responses of plant community structure and composition to precipitation variabilities in a semi-arid steppe.

Changing precipitation regimes can profoundly affect plant growth in terrestrial ecosystems, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. However, how changing precipitation, especially extreme precipitation events, alters plant diversity and community composition is still poorly understood. A 3-year field manipulative experiment with seven precipitation treatments, including - 60%, - 40%, - 20%, 0% (as a control), + 20%, + 40%, and + 60% of ambient growing-season precipitation, was conducted in a semi-arid steppe in the Mongolian Plateau. Results showed total plant community cover and forb cover were enhanced with increased precipitation and reduced under decreased precipitation, whereas grass cover was suppressed under the - 60% treatment only. Plant community and grass species richness were reduced by the - 60% treatment only. Moreover, our results demonstrated that total plant community cover was more sensitive to decreased than increased precipitation under normal and extreme precipitation change, and species richness was more sensitive to decreased than increased precipitation under extreme precipitation change. The community composition and low field water holding capacity may drive this asymmetric response. Accumulated changes in community cover may eventually lead to changes in species richness. However, compared to control, Shannon-Weiner index (H) did not respond to any precipitation treatment, and Pielou's evenness index (E) was reduced under the + 60% treatment across the 3 year, but not in each year. Thus, the findings suggest that plant biodiversity in the semi-arid steppe may have a strong resistance to precipitation pattern changes through adjusting its composition in a short term.

Shifts of growing-season precipitation peaks decrease soil respiration in a semiarid grassland.

Changing precipitation regimes could have profound influences on carbon (C) cycle in the biosphere. However, how soil C release from terrestrial ecosystems responds to changing seasonal distribution of precipitation remains unclear. A field experiment was conducted for 4 years (2013-2016) to examine the effects of altered precipitation distributions in the growing season on soil respiration in a temperate steppe in the Mongolian Plateau. Over the 4 years, both advanced and delayed precipitation peaks suppressed soil respiration, and the reductions mainly occurred in August. The decreased soil respiration could be primarily attributable to water stress and subsequently limited plant growth (community cover and belowground net primary productivity) and soil microbial activities in the middle growing season, suggesting that precipitation amount in the middle growing season is more important than that in the early, late, or whole growing seasons in regulating soil C release in grasslands. The observations of the additive effects of advanced and delayed precipitation peaks indicate semiarid grasslands will release less C through soil respiratory processes under the projected seasonal redistribution of precipitation in the future. Our findings highlight the potential role of intra-annual redistribution of precipitation in regulating ecosystem C cycling in arid and semiarid regions.

Joint control of terrestrial gross primary productivity by plant phenology and physiology.

Terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP) varies greatly over time and space. A better understanding of this variability is necessary for more accurate predictions of the future climate-carbon cycle feedback. Recent studies have suggested that variability in GPP is driven by a broad range of biotic and abiotic factors operating mainly through changes in vegetation phenology and physiological processes. However, it is still unclear how plant phenology and physiology can be integrated to explain the spatiotemporal variability of terrestrial GPP. Based on analyses of eddy-covariance and satellite-derived data, we decomposed annual terrestrial GPP into the length of the CO2 uptake period (CUP) and the seasonal maximal capacity of CO2 uptake (GPPmax). The product of CUP and GPPmax explained >90% of the temporal GPP variability in most areas of North America during 2000-2010 and the spatial GPP variation among globally distributed eddy flux tower sites. It also explained GPP response to the European heatwave in 2003 (r(2) = 0.90) and GPP recovery after a fire disturbance in South Dakota (r(2) = 0.88). Additional analysis of the eddy-covariance flux data shows that the interbiome variation in annual GPP is better explained by that in GPPmax than CUP. These findings indicate that terrestrial GPP is jointly controlled by ecosystem-level plant phenology and photosynthetic capacity, and greater understanding of GPPmax and CUP responses to environmental and biological variations will, thus, improve predictions of GPP over time and space.

A global meta-analysis of soil phosphorus dynamics after afforestation.

Afforestation significantly affects soil chemistry and biota, but its effects on the potentially growth-limiting nutrient phosphorus (P) had not to our knowledge been analyzed globally. We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of 220 independent sampling sites from 108 articles to evaluate global patterns and controls of soil P change following afforestation. Overall, total P concentration decreased by 11% and total P stock by 12% in the top 20 cm of mineral soil following afforestation, with no change in available P. Time since afforestation had no consistent effect on total P, while available P tended to increase with time. Prior land cover was the most influential factor for soil P change after afforestation, with available P increasing on native vegetation but decreasing on cropland. Afforestation increased available P by 22% without decreasing total P on formerly 'degraded' land, but depleted total P by 15% at nondegraded sites. Climate also influenced soil P response to afforestation, with larger P loss in the tropics. Afforestation did not appear to directly induce P limitation, as available P only decreased on cropland. However, substantial declines in total P may drive tropical plantations toward greater P limitation as the capacity to replenish available P decreases.

Proteome Modification in Tomato Plants upon Long-Term Aluminum Treatment.

This study aimed to identify the aluminum (Al)-induced proteomes in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, "Micro-Tom") after long-term exposure to the stress factor. Plants were treated in Magnavaca's solution (pH 4.5) supplemented with 7.5 µM Al(3+) ion activity over a 4 month period beginning at the emergence of flower buds and ending when the lower mature leaves started to turn yellow. Proteomes were identified using a 8-plex isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) labeling strategy followed by a two-dimensional (high- and low-pH) chromatographic separation and final generation of tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) spectra of tryptic peptides on an LTQ-Orbitrap Elite mass spectrometer. Principal component analysis revealed that the Al-treatment had induced systemic alterations in the proteomes from roots and leaves but not seed tissues. The significantly changed root proteins were shown to have putative functions in Al(3+) ion uptake and transportation, root development, and a multitude of other cellular processes. Changes in the leaf proteome indicate that the light reaction centers of photosynthetic machinery are the primary targets of Al-induced stress. Embryo and seed-coat tissues derived from Al-treated plants were enriched with stress proteins. The biological processes involving these Al-induced proteins concur with the physiological and morphological changes, such as the disturbance of mineral homeostasis (higher contents of Al, P, and Fe and reduced contents of S, Zn, and Mn in Al-treated compared to nontreated plants) in roots and smaller sizes of roots and the whole plants. More importantly, the identified significant proteins might represent a molecular mechanism for plants to develop toward establishing the Al tolerance and adaptation mechanism over a long period of stress treatment.