Nitrogen (N) deposition has been one of the factors that change vegetation community. Many studies evaluated the impacts of N deposition on community-level process, especially for the juvenile and adult stages of plants. To develop predictions regarding the effects of N deposition on vegetation communities, it is necessary to account for the impacts of N deposition on the early life history stages of plants. In addition, how to mitigate the negative effect of N deposition still lack. In this study, we conducted a greenhouse experiment with three N deposition levels (0, 10, and 20 g N m2 yr-1) and two liming levels (0 and 200 g CaCO3 m2 yr-1), to assess the effect of N deposition and lime (potential mitigate measurement) on the early life history of Pinus massoniana.
Results/Conclusions
Results showed (1) high N deposition decreased seed germination by 40 %, compared to control; liming increased seed germination by 61% under high N deposition. (2) N deposition did not affect seedling length three weeks after germination, but high N deposition significantly decreased the diameter of seedling by 27%, compared to control; liming did not affect the height and diameter of seedling. (3) both aboveground and belowground biomass did not respond to N deposition, but liming significantly increased belowground biomass under low N deposition. These results indicated high N deposition may change vegetation community through inhibiting seed germination and decreasing diameter of seedling. Liming is an available measurement that mitigate the negative effect of high N deposition.