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Ecological consequences of the expansion of N2-fixing plants in cold biomes

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Abstract

Research in warm-climate biomes has shown that invasion by symbiotic dinitrogen (N2)-fixing plants can transform ecosystems in ways analogous to the transformations observed as a consequence of anthropogenic, atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition: declines in biodiversity, soil acidification, and alterations to carbon and nutrient cycling, including increased N losses through nitrate leaching and emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Here, we used literature review and case study approaches to assess the evidence for similar transformations in cold-climate ecosystems of the boreal, subarctic and upper montane-temperate life zones. Our assessment focuses on the plant genera Lupinus and Alnus, which have become invasive largely as a consequence of deliberate introductions and/or reduced land management. These cold biomes are commonly located in remote areas with low anthropogenic N inputs, and the environmental impacts of N2-fixer invasion appear to be as severe as those from anthropogenic N deposition in highly N polluted areas. Hence, inputs of N from N2 fixation can affect ecosystems as dramatically or even more strongly than N inputs from atmospheric deposition, and biomes in cold climates represent no exception with regard to the risk of being invaded by N2-fixing species. In particular, the cold biomes studied here show both a strong potential to be transformed by N2-fixing plants and a rapid subsequent saturation in the ecosystem’s capacity to retain N. Therefore, analogous to increases in N deposition, N2-fixing plant invasions must be deemed significant threats to biodiversity and to environmental quality.

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Acknowledgments

This article synthesizes and expands the results from a workshop on ‘N-fixing plant invasion into cold climates’ which was held in the Swiss central Alps in September 2012 as part of the ClimMani research network activity under European Science Foundation (ESF). We are grateful to all participants of this workshop for the valuable discussions and contributions. We greatly acknowledge the generous funding for the workshop from the European Science Foundation, and funding received by the Swiss National Science Foundation (project VALUrsern, CR30I3-124809/1) and Mercator Foundation Switzerland for advancing this topic. Any use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Erika Hiltbrunner, Tobias Bühlmann & Christian Körner

  2. Department of Ecological Science, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Rien Aerts

  3. Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 90183, Umeå, Sweden

    Kerstin Huss-Danell

  4. Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Urriðaholtsstræti 6-8, 212, Garðabær, Iceland

    Borgthor Magnusson

  5. Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Agric Life Sci Bldg 3017, Corvallis, OR, 97331-7306, USA

    David D. Myrold

  6. U.S. Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, 2290 S. West Resource Blvd, Moab, UT, 84532, USA

    Sasha C. Reed

  7. Agricultural University of Iceland, Hvanneyri, 311, Borgarnes, Iceland

    Bjarni D. Sigurdsson

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  1. Erika Hiltbrunner
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  8. Bjarni D. Sigurdsson
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  9. Christian Körner
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Correspondence to Erika Hiltbrunner.

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Communicated by Pascal A. Niklaus.

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Hiltbrunner, E., Aerts, R., Bühlmann, T. et al. Ecological consequences of the expansion of N2-fixing plants in cold biomes. Oecologia 176, 11–24 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-2991-x

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