High nitrogen-fixing rates associated with ground-covering mosses in a tropical mountain cloud forest will decrease drastically in a future climate
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Tropical mountain cloud forests (TMCF) harbour a high bryophyte (mosses and liverworts) biomass and diversity. Furthermore, the high air humidity makes these forests well suited for bryophyte-associated nitrogen (N2) fixation by cyanobacteria, providing a potentially important source of N input to the ecosystem. However, few studies have assessed bryophyte-associated N input in these ecosystems, and these have focused on epiphytic bryophytes, whereas abundant ground-covering bryophytes have not been included. In this study, we quantified N2 fixation rates associated with bryophytes, focusing on ground-covering mosses in a neotropical mountain cloud forest. Furthermore, we identified the effects of climate change (higher temperature 10 vs. 20° and lower bryophyte moisture level 50% vs. 100%) on N2 fixation across bryophyte species and groups (mosses and liverworts). Nitrogen fixation rates associated with ground-covering moss species were up to 2 kg N ha−1 year−1, which is comparable to other N inputs (e.g. N deposition) in tropical cloud forests. Furthermore, changes in temperature showed little effect on N2 fixation, but low moisture levels significantly suppressed N2 fixation activity. We found low N2 fixation activity associated with the investigated liverworts. Our results demonstrate the importance of ground-covering, moss-associated N2 fixation as a N source in tropical cloud forests and suggest that predicted future declines in precipitation in these systems will reduce N inputs from bryophyte-associated cyanobacteria. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
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Tidsskrift | Functional Ecology |
Vol/bind | 36 |
Udgave nummer | 7 |
Sider (fra-til) | 1772-1781 |
Antal sider | 10 |
ISSN | 0269-8463 |
DOI | |
Status | Udgivet - 2022 |
Bibliografisk note
CENPERMOA[2022]
Funding Information:
We thank Maja H. Wahlgren for assistance with the ethylene analyses at the University of Copenhagen. K.R. was supported by the IRFD Sapere Aude Starting grant (Grant id: 7027‐00011B). D.B.M. was supported by an ERC Consolidator grant (ECOHERB, Grant id: 682707). Apr was supported by The Danish National Research Foundation through CENPERM (CENPERM DNRF100).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Functional Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.
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