Global distribution and climate sensitivity of the tropical montane forest nitrogen cycle

dc.contributor.authorGay, Justin D.
dc.contributor.authorCurrey, Bryce
dc.contributor.authorBrookshire, E. N. Jack
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-04T19:22:38Z
dc.date.available2023-01-04T19:22:38Z
dc.date.issued2022-11
dc.description.abstractTropical forests are pivotal to global climate and biogeochemical cycles, yet the geographic distribution of nutrient limitation to plants and microbes across the biome is unresolved. One long-standing generalization is that tropical montane forests are nitrogen (N)-limited whereas lowland forests tend to be N-rich. However, empirical tests of this hypothesis have yielded equivocal results. Here we evaluate the topographic signature of the ecosystem-level tropical N cycle by examining climatic and geophysical controls of surface soil N content and stable isotopes (δ15N) from elevational gradients distributed across tropical mountains globally. We document steep increases in soil N concentration and declining δ15N with increasing elevation, consistent with decreased microbial N processing and lower gaseous N losses. Temperature explained much of the change in N, with an apparent temperature sensitivity (Q10) of ~1.9. Although montane forests make up 11% of forested tropical land area, we estimate they account for >17% of the global tropical forest soil N pool. Our findings support the existence of widespread microbial N limitation across tropical montane forest ecosystems and high sensitivity to climate warming.en_US
dc.identifier.citationGay, J. D., Currey, B., & Brookshire, E. N. J. (2022). Global distribution and climate sensitivity of the tropical montane forest nitrogen cycle. Nature Communications, 13(1), 1-8.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2041-1723
dc.identifier.urihttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/17578
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherSpringer Natureen_US
dc.rightscc-byen_US
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_US
dc.subjectclimate sensitivityen_US
dc.subjectglobal climateen_US
dc.subjecttropical montane foresten_US
dc.subjectnitrogen cycleen_US
dc.titleGlobal distribution and climate sensitivity of the tropical montane forest nitrogen cycleen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
mus.citation.extentfirstpage1en_US
mus.citation.extentlastpage8en_US
mus.citation.journaltitleNature Communicationsen_US
mus.data.thumbpage2en_US
mus.identifier.doi10.1038/s41467-022-35170-zen_US
mus.relation.collegeCollege of Agricultureen_US
mus.relation.departmentLand Resources & Environmental Sciences.en_US
mus.relation.universityMontana State University - Bozemanen_US

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