Effects of Different Resource Additions of Species Diversity in an Annual Plant Community

Abstract

A commonly observed phenomenon in plant communities is that the addition of a limiting resource leads to an increase in productivity and a decrease in species diversity. We tested the hypothesis that the mechanism underlying this pattern is a disproportionate increase in mortality of smaller or shade—intolerant species in more productive sites caused by reduction of light levels. We added water and/or one of three nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) to a 1st—old—field community dominated by weedy annuals and measured effect on productivity, species composition, diversity, and light levels after one growing season. Diversity was not clearly related to productivity in this experiment. Watering increased productivity, but, contrary to expectations, had no effect on density of surviving plants, species diversity, or abundance of low—growing species. Almost all the increase in biomass with watering was due to a positive response by Ambrosia artemisiifolia, an upright annual that was the most common species in the canopy in all treatments. The addition of nitrogen had only a small positive effect on productivity, but strongly decreased density of surviving plants, species diversity, and abundance of most low—growing species. Only Ambrosia increased in abundance with nitrogen addition. The phophorus and potassium additions had little effect on the community. We suggest that the high mortality and low diversity in the nitrogen addition plots, but not in the more productive watered plots, was due to limitation by nitrogen earlier than limitation by water during the growing season. The consequence was earlier canopy closure and greater mortality due to light limitation.