Drivers of nitrogen dynamics in ecologically based agriculture revealed by long-term, high-frequency field measurements.

Nitrogen (N) loss from agriculture impacts ecosystems worldwide. One strategy to mitigate these losses, ecologically based nutrient management (ENM), seeks to recouple carbon (C) and N cycles to reduce environmental losses and supply N to cash crops. However, our capacity to apply ENM is limited by a lack of field-based high-resolution data on N dynamics in actual production contexts.

Short-term soil inorganic N pulse after experimental fire alters invasive and native annual plant production in a Mojave Desert shrubland.

Post-fire changes in desert vegetation patterns are known, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. Theory suggests that pulse dynamics of resource availability confer advantages to invasive annual species, and that pulse timing can influence survival and competition among species. Precipitation patterns in the American Southwest are predicted to shift toward a drier climate, potentially altering post-fire resource availability and consequent vegetation dynamics.