Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 4 — Narrative / commentaryPeer-reviewed

Climate change and nutrient cycles

Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S. et al.

2015

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Summary

This review article, published in Plant and Soil in 2015, synthesises existing evidence on how climate change affects nutrient cycles — particularly carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulphur — in terrestrial ecosystems. It likely explores bidirectional feedbacks whereby altered nutrient dynamics influence greenhouse gas fluxes and vice versa, with implications for ecosystem function, soil health, and plant productivity. The paper provides a conceptual framework for understanding stoichiometric constraints and microbial-mediated processes under changing climatic conditions.

UK applicability

Although the paper is global in scope, its findings on climate-driven shifts in nitrogen and phosphorus cycling are directly relevant to UK soil management policy, particularly in the context of net-zero targets, nutrient pollution regulation, and the need to maintain soil fertility under increasingly variable precipitation and temperature regimes.

Key measures

Nutrient cycling rates; nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometry; soil carbon:nutrient ratios; greenhouse gas emissions (N₂O, CH₄, CO₂); microbial biomass and activity indicators

Outcomes reported

The paper likely examines how climate change drivers — including elevated CO₂, warming, and altered precipitation — affect the cycling of key nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, carbon) in soils and plants. It probably synthesises evidence on feedbacks between climate variables and biogeochemical nutrient transformations across ecosystem types.

Theme
Climate & resilience
Subject
Soil biogeochemistry & nutrient dynamics
Study type
Narrative Review
Study design
Narrative review
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
Geography
Global
System type
Terrestrial ecosystems (multiple)
Catalogue ID
XL0630

Topic tags

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