University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
College of Biological Sciences
http://www.cbs.umn.edu/

Experiments

Experiment 247 - Nutrient Network. A cross-site investigation of bottom-up control over herbaceous plant community dynamics and ecosystem function.

This experiment is one implementation of a globally distributed experiment, known as the Nutrient Network. At Cedar Creek, as in over 70 other sites in grasslands around the world, the experiment aims to describe impacts of increased nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur and other metals) and decreased herbivory (removal of mammals by fencing).

Two overarching questions are being explored with these manipulations:

1. To what extent are plant production and diversity co-limited by multiple nutrients in herbaceous-dominated communities?

2. Under what conditions do grazers or fertilization control plant biomass, diversity, and
composition?

By utilizing identical protocols at diverse grassland sites around the world, NutNet aims to uncover both the generalities in ecosystem functioning, and the contingencies or differences which can obscure those common mechanisms.

In addition to the standard NutNet protocol, e247 includes an additional low Nitrogen gradient (1 gram Nitrogen per meter squared per year and 5 grams Nitrogen per meter squared per year in addition to the standard 10 grams Nitrogen per meter squared per year).

Methods for e247

Datasets


Dataset IDTitleRange of Years (# years with data)
adbe2472007 pre-treatment soils pH, nutrients, texture2007-2007 (1 year)
acue247Aboveground Standing Crop Biomass2007-2020 (14 years)
azye247In situ soil respirations throughout the 2020 growing season across an N fertilization gradient2019-2019 (1 year)
adae247Light Availability2008-2020 (10 years)
afre247Mechanisms driving the soil organic matter decomposition response to nutrient enrichment2014-2014 (1 year)
aeme247Multi-site grassland plant biomass, species richness and light (PAR)2007-2012 (5 years)
azze247Net ecosystem exchange measurements throughout the 2020 growing season across an N fertilization gradient2019-2019 (1 year)
aige247Nutrient Network Oak Litter Decomposition2010-2018 (8 years)
acze247Plant Species Composition percent cover2007-2020 (14 years)
ayye247Plant above and belowground biomass across an N fertilization gradient after 13 years of fertilization2019-2019 (1 year)
ahne247Plant and soil organic matter responses to ten years of nutrient enrichment in the Nutrient Network2016-2018 (2 years)
afje247Soil nutrient analysis2012-2012 (1 year)
aeve247Soil organic matter responses to nutrient enrichment in the Nutrient Network2012-2012 (1 year)