Nitrogen deposition and climate drive plant nitrogen uptake while soil factors drive nitrogen use efficiency in terrestrial ecosystems

Vallicrosa, Helena; Fleischer, Katrin; Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel; Fernández-Martínez, Marcos; Černý, Jakub; Tian, Di; Kourmouli, Angeliki; Mayoral, Carolina; Grados, Diego; Lu, Mingzhen; Terrer, César

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1183-2025

Articles | Volume 16, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1183-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1183-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 4

Research article

|

28 Jul 2025

Research article |

| 28 Jul 2025

Nitrogen deposition and climate drive plant nitrogen uptake while soil factors drive nitrogen use efficiency in terrestrial ecosystems

Helena Vallicrosa, Katrin Fleischer, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Marcos Fernández-Martínez, Jakub Černý, Di Tian, Angeliki Kourmouli, Carolina Mayoral, Diego Grados, Mingzhen Lu, and César Terrer

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1183-2025-supplement

Data sets

Global plant nitrogen uptake and nitrogen use efficiency H. Vallicrosa Pou https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13332734

Model code and software

Global plant nitrogen uptake and nitrogen use efficiency H. Vallicrosa Pou https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13332734

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Short summary

We used field empirical data worldwide to calculate plant nitrogen uptake (Nup) and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in woodlands and grasslands to determine their drivers which can be used as empirical validation for models. Even though some regions of the world have decreased their N deposition, N deposition is still the most important driver explaining plant nitrogen uptake, aside from climatic variables. NUE is mainly driven by soil factors.