On Binghamton University Week: A boost of nutrients could be what grasslands need for the future.
Amber Churchill, assistant professor of ecosystem science, looks into why.
Amy Churchill is a plant ecologist conducting research on the consequences of global environmental change at the interface of plant communities and ecosystem ecology, with experience in a range of biomes and ecosystem types. Her research examines both broad patterns of ecosystem responses to global change as well as mechanisms for how plant communities may confer stabilizing or amplifying feedbacks, thereby impacting ecosystem responses to environmental change.
Grasslands Can Withstand Climate Extremes With a Boost of Nutrients
Modern human development has significantly altered natural resources like water, disrupting how plants grow, especially in grasslands, where natural resource availability directly supports livestock and farming. But we might have a secret weapon in keeping grasslands growing in times of drought: fertilizer!
I’m part of a global research team that discovered adding fertilizer to plants can help them survive short-term drought. This development could reduce the negative effects of drought worldwide as we face changing climate issues.
Our team researched how grasslands respond to periods of extreme drought and increased nutrient availability through experiments across 9 countries. We were able to scale small, site-level findings to a larger geographic scale, allowing us to test impacts of variation in nutrients and the effects of drought together globally.
Alone, drought reduced plant growth by 19%, while adding fertilizer increased plant growth by 24%. Most importantly, the combination of the two resulted in zero change in growth, meaning that adding nutrients can offset the impact of drought. These discoveries are crucial for future climate mitigation strategies.
While adding fertilizer is not a long-term solution due to its cost and sustainability, it can temporarily offset the effects of drought.
Longer term options for climate solutions in grasslands are generally based on the diversity of plants living there. We predict that more species of plants within a given area leads to higher likelihood of survival in a drought and therefore more stable plant life available for grazing. We can’t test that outcome with these data, because we’re only looking at one year. However, we are hopeful that this research will lead to long-term solutions for mitigating the effects of climate change on agriculture globally.
Read More:
[Binghamton] – First-of-its-kind global study shows grasslands can withstand climate extremes with a boost of nutrients
