RT Journal Article
T1 Decoupling of soil nutrient cycles as a function of aridity in global drylands
A1 Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel
A1 Maestre, Fernando
A1 Gallardo, Antonio
A1 Bowker, Matthew
A1 Wallenstein, Matthew
A1 Quero, Jose Luis
A1 Ochoa, Victoria
A1 Gozalo, Beatriz
A1 García-Gómez, Miguel
A1 Soliveres, Santiago
A1 García-Palacios, Pablo
A1 Berdugo, Miguel
A1 Valencia Gómez, Enrique
A1 Escolar, Cristina
A1 Arredondo, Tulio
A1 Barraza-Zepeda, Claudia
A1 Bran, Donaldo
A1 Carreira, José Antonio
A1 Chaieb, Mohamed
A1 Conceição, Abel
A1 Derak, Mchich
A1 Eldridge, David
A1 Escudero, Adrián
A1 Espinosa, Carlos
A1 Gaitán, Juan
A1 Gatica, Gabriel
A1 Gómez-González, Susana
A1 Guzman, Elizabeth
A1 Gutiérrez, Julio
A1 Florentino, Adriana
A1 Hepper, Estela
A1 Hernández, Rosa
A1 Huber-Sannwald, Elisabeth
A1 Jankju, Mohammad
A1 Liu, Jushan
A1 Mau, Rebecca
A1 Miriti, Maria
A1 Monerris, Jorge
A1 Naseri, Kamal
A1 Noumi, Zouhaier
A1 Polo, Vicente
A1 Prina, Aníbal
A1 Pucheta, Eduardo
A1 Ramírez, Elizabeth
A1 Ramírez-Collantes, David
A1 Romão, Roberto
A1 Tighe, Matthew
A1 Torres, Duilio
A1 Torres-Díaz, Cristian
A1 Ungar, Eugene
A1 Val, James
A1 Wamiti, Wanyoike
A1 Wang, Deli
A1 Zaady, Eli
AB The biogeochemical cycles of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are interlinked by primary production, respiration and decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems1. It has been suggested that the C, N and P cycles could become uncoupled under rapid climate change because of the different degrees of control exerted on the supply of these elements by biological and geochemical processes1–5. Climatic controls on biogeochemical cycles are particularly relevant in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid ecosystems (drylands) because their biological activity is mainly driven by water availability6–8. The increase in aridity predicted for the twenty-first century in many drylands worldwide9–11 may therefore threaten the balance between these cycles, differentially affecting the availability of essential nutrients12–14. Here we evaluate how aridity affects the balance between C, N and P in soils collected from 224 dryland sites from all continents except Antarctica. Wefind a negative effect of aridity on the concentration of soil organic C and total N, but a positive effect on the concentration of inorganic P. Aridity is negatively related to plant cover, which may favour the dominance of physical processes such as rock weathering, a major source of P to ecosystems, over biological processes that provide more C and N, such as litter decomposition12–14. Our findings suggest that any predicted increase in aridity with climate change will probably reduce the concentrations of N and C in global drylands, but increase that of P. These changes would uncouple the C, N and P cycles in drylands and could negatively affect the provision of key services provided by these ecosystems.
PB Nature Research
SN 0028-0836
YR 2013
FD 2013
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/93758
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/93758
LA eng
NO Delgado-Baquerizo, M., Maestre, F., Gallardo, A. et al. Decoupling of soil nutrient cycles as a function of aridity in global drylands. Nature 502, 672–676 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12670
NO European Commission
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO Programa Iberoamericano de Ciencia y Tecnología para el Desarrollo
NO Universidad Pablo de Olavide
DS Docta Complutense
RD 10 abr 2025