• Energy Research

The increase in aridity, mainly by decreases in precipitation but also by higher temperatures, is likely the main threat to the diversity and survival of Mediterranean forests. Changes in land use, including the abandonment of extensive crop activities, mainly in mountains and remote areas, and the increases in human settlements and demand for more resources with the resulting fragmentation of the landscape, hinder the establishment of appropriate management tools to protect Mediterranean forests and their provision of services and biodiversity. Experiments and observations indicate that if changes in climate, land use and other components of global change, such as pollution and overexploitation of resources, continue, the resilience of many forests will likely be exceeded, altering their structure and function and changing, mostly decreasing, their capacity to continue to provide their current services. A consistent assessment of the impacts of the changes, however, remains elusive due to the difficulty of obtaining simultaneous and complete data for all scales of the impacts in the same forests, areas and regions. We review the impacts of climate change and other components of global change and their interactions on the terrestrial forests of Mediterranean regions, with special attention to their impacts on ecosystem services. Management tools for counteracting the negative effects of global change on Mediterranean ecosystem- services are finally discussed.

The responses of litter decomposition to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) additions were examined in an old-growth tropical forest in southern China to test the following hypotheses: (1) N addition would decrease litter decomposition; (2) P addition would increase litter decomposition, and (3) P addition would mitigate the inhibitive effect of N addition. Two kinds of leaf litter, Schima superba Chardn. & Champ. (S.S.) and Castanopsis chinensis Hance (C.C.), were studied using the litterbag technique. Four treatments were conducted at the following levels: control, N-addition (150 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1)), P-addition (150 kg P ha(-1) yr(-1)) and NP-addition (150 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1) plus 150 kg P ha(-1) yr(-1)). While N addition significantly decreased the decomposition of both litters, P addition significantly inhibited decomposition of C.C., but did not affect the decomposition of S.S. The negative effect of N addition on litter decomposition might be related to the high N-saturation in this old-growth tropical forest; however, the negative effect of P addition might be due to the suppression of "microbial P mining". Significant interaction between N and P addition was found on litter decomposition, which was reflected by the less negative effect in NP-addition plots than those in N-addition plots. Our results suggest that P addition may also have negative effect on litter decomposition and that P addition would mitigate the negative effect of N deposition on litter decomposition in tropical forests.

This dataset presents data of the activities of soil enzymes involved in the mobilization of C, N and P in the soils of two different Mediterranean environments (Mediterranean xerophytic shrubland and Mediterranean holm-oak forest), subject to control conditions and warming, drought and N-deposition treatments in order to mimic some of the main drivers of Climate Change, for the years 2014 and 2015. Some files also contain soil physio-chemical parameters, soil extractable elements, microbial elements, microbial community composition, and plant ecophysiological parameters.

AbstractElevated nitrogen (N) deposition may aggravate phosphorus (P) deficiency in forests in the warm humid regions of China. To our knowledge, the interactive effects of long-term N deposition and P availability on soil microorganisms in tropical replanted forests remain unclear. We conducted an N and P manipulation experiment with four treatments: control, N addition (15 g N m−2·yr−1), P addition (15 g P m−2·yr−1) and N and P addition (15 + 15 g N and P m−2·yr−1, respectively) in disturbed (planted pine forest with recent harvests of understory vegetation and litter) and rehabilitated (planted with pine, but mixed with broadleaf returning by natural succession) forests in southern China. Nitrogen addition did not significantly affect soil microbial biomass, but significantly decreased the abundance of gram-negative bacteria PLFAs in both forest types. Microbial biomass increased significantly after P addition in the disturbed forest but not in the rehabilitated forest. No interactions between N and P additions on soil microorganisms were observed in either forest type. Our results suggest that microbial growth in replanted forests of southern China may be limited by P rather than by N and this P limitation may be greater in disturbed forests.

Elevated nitrogen (N) deposition in humid tropical regions may exacerbate phosphorus (P) deficiency in forests on highly weathered soils. However, it is not clear how P availability affects soil microbes and soil carbon (C), or how P processes interact with N deposition in tropical forests. We examined the effects of N and P additions on soil microbes and soil C pools in a N-saturated old-growth tropical forest in southern China to test the hypotheses that (1) N and P addition will have opposing effects on soil microbial biomass and activity, (2) N and P addition will alter the composition of the microbial community, (3) the addition of N and P will have interactive effects on soil microbes and (4) addition-mediated changes in microbial communities would feed back on soil C pools. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis was used to quantify the soil microbial community following four treatments: Control, N addition (15 g N m(-2) yr(-1)), P addition (15 g P m(-2) yr(-1)), and N&P addition (15 g N m(-2) yr(-1) plus 15 g P m(-2) yr(-1)). These were applied from 2007 to 2011. Whereas additions of P increased soil microbial biomass, additions of N reduced soil microbial biomass. These effects, however, were transient, disappearing over longer periods. Moreover, N additions significantly increased relative abundance of fungal PLFAs and P additions significantly increased relative abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi PLFAs. Nitrogen addition had a negative effect on light fraction C, but no effect on heavy fraction C and total soil C. In contrast, P addition significantly decreased both light fraction C and total soil C. However, there were no interactions between N addition and P addition on soil microbes. Our results suggest that these nutrients are not co-limiting, and that P rather than N is limiting in this tropical forest.

AbstractWe investigated the δ15N profile of N (extractable NH, NO, and organic N (EON)) in the soil of a N‐saturated subtropical forest. The order of δ15N in the soil was EON > NH > NO. Although the δ15N of EON had been expected to be similar to that of bulk soil N, it was higher than that of bulk soil N by 5‰. The difference in δ15N between bulk soil N and EON (Δ15Nbulk‐EON) was correlated significantly with the soil C/N ratio. This correlation implies that carbon availability, which determines the balance between N assimilation and dissimilation of soil microbes, is responsible for the high δ15N of EON, as in the case of soil microbial biomass δ15N. A thorough δ15N survey of available N (NH, NO, and EON) in the soil profiles from the organic layer to 100 cm depth revealed that the δ15N of the available N forms did not fully overlap with the δ15N of plants. This mismatch in δ15N between that of available N and that of plants reflects apparent isotopic fractionation during N uptake by plants, emphasizing the high N availability in this N‐saturated forest. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.