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Article: Nutrient availability, plant abundance, and species diversity in two alpine tundra communities.
- Article from:
- Ecology
- Article date:
- September 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Ecological Society of America. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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INTRODUCTION
The influence of soil fertility on plant primary production, community structure, and diversity has been demonstrated in many plant communities using fertilization experiments (Shaver and Chapin 1980, Tilman 1984, Chapin and Shaver 1985, Goldberg and Miller 1990, Wilson and Tilman 1991, Fox 1992, Jonasson 1992). By definition, nutrien-limited systems respond to nutrient additions with increases in primary production, but long-term fertilization studies suggest that changes in species composition following fertilization may be more lasting than changes in production (Tilman 1984, 1987, Korner 1989). Indeed, chronic N deposition from anthropogenic sources ...