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.
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.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
28 Jul 2025
Research article |
| 28 Jul 2025
| 28 Jul 2025
Nitrogen deposition and climate drive plant nitrogen uptake while soil factors drive nitrogen use efficiency in terrestrial ecosystems
Helena Vallicrosa
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Community Ecology Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Plant Ecology Research Laboratory PERL, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering ENAC, EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Katrin Fleischer
Department of Biogeochemical Signals, Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
Section Systems Ecology, Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo
Laboratorio de Biodiversidad y Funcionamiento Ecosistémico, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC, Seville, Spain
Marcos Fernández-Martínez
CREAF, E08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Catalonia, Spain
Jakub Černý
Forestry and Game Management Research Institute, Strnady 136, Jíloviště 252 02, Czech Republic
State Key Laboratory of Efficient Production of Forest Resources, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Angeliki Kourmouli
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Carolina Mayoral
Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
School of Biosciences, Edgbaston Campus, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Diego Grados
Department of Agroecology, Climate and Water, Aarhus University, 8830 Tjele, Denmark
Mingzhen Lu
Department of Environmental Studies, New York University, New York, NY 10012, USA
Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
César Terrer
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
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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.
We used field empirical data worldwide to calculate plant nitrogen uptake (Nup) and nitrogen use...
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