Nitrogen addition decreases seed germination in a temperate steppe

Abstract

Seed germination and seedling establishment play an important role in driving the responses of plant community structure and function to global change. Nitrogen (N) deposition is one of the driving factors of global change, which often leads to a loss in species richness in grassland ecosystems. However, how seed germination responds to N addition remains unclear. A pot incubation test was conducted in a semi-arid grassland in the Mongolian Plateau, Northern China, to investigate the effect of N addition (0, 5, 10, 20, 40, and 80 g N/m2) on seed germination from May to October 2016. Twenty species germinated under all treatments; however, the responses of the 20 species to N addition were different. The densities of Stipa krylovii, Leymus chinensis, and Artemisia frigida, which are the dominant species in this temperate steppe, decreased significantly as the amount of N addition. Moreover, N addition significantly suppressed seedling densities of the community, perennial forbs, perennial grasses, and annuals and biennials. Furthermore, species richness of the community, perennial forbs, and annuals and biennials decreased sharply with increasing N addition level, but perennial grass species richness did not change. The Shannon–Wiener diversity index also decreased as the amount of N addition increased. Our results suggest that N enrichment plays an important role in the seed germination stage and decreases supplements of seedlings to adult plants. These findings may help explain the causes of species loss by atmospheric N deposition in grassland ecosystems.