Editor's Choice February

The editor’s choice papers are for February are two meta-analyses: Bracken and colleagues studied signatures of nutrient limitation in primary producers; Jauni et al. how non-native plant species benefit from disturbance.

Matthew Bracken and colleagues collected data derived from more than 100 field and laboratory experiments that manipulated nutrient availability in terrestrial, marine and freshwater environment to test hypotheses about co-limitation of N and P. Such insights are to date largely lacking despite their importance for biogeochemical cycles in ecosystems experiencing severe human pressure. Nitrogen (N) inputs have for instance doubled relative to pre-industrial levels, while a quadrupling of phosphorus (P) inputs is common in many systems. The team found no general evidence for the decrease in the internal concentration of one nutrient due to addition of another nutrient, except in marine systems where P addition increased internal N concentrations across all experiments, a pattern consistent with co-limitation. In a second meta-analysis paper, Miia Jani and two colleagues provide synthesis on  the association of several disturbances with the diversity and abundance of non-native plant species. They overall are able to demonstrate that invasive plant species profit from disturbance. Especially grazing and anthropogenic disturbances are associated with a higher diversity and abundance of non-native plant species than disturbances like fire and soil modifications. The general positive associations varied in effect size across habitat types and the temporal scale of the study.  Interestingly, earlier studies found disturbance to be a poor predictor of plant invasions. Invasion dynamics are affected by multiple mechanisms. Meta-analyses of this kind therefore form an essential step to develop well-though experiments to test the context-dependency of multiple mechanisms affecting the spread of both native and non-native invaders.

Dries Bonte

Editor in Chief

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