Long-term nitrogen addition causes the evolution of less-cooperative mutualists

2015/01/06 by Dylan J. Weese, Katy D. Heath, Bryn T. M. Dentinger +1 · 272 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Agronomic Practices and Intercropping Systems #Agronomy #Bacteria #Biology #Botany #Ecology #Ecosystem #Horticulture #Inoculation #Legume #Legume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis #Mutualism (biology) #Nitrogen fixation #Rhizobia #Rhizobium #Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics #Symbiosis

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/evo.12594

published in Evolution 69(3), 631-642 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 2015/01/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Human activities have altered the global nitrogen (N) cycle, and as a result, elevated N inputs are causing profound ecological changes in diverse ecosystems. The evolutionary consequences of this global change have been largely ignored even though elevated N inputs are predicted to cause mutualism breakdown and the evolution of decreased cooperation between resource mutualists. Using a long-term (22 years) N-addition experiment, we find that elevated N inputs have altered the legume-rhizobium mutualism (where rhizobial bacteria trade N in exchange for photosynthates from legumes), causing the evolution of less-mutualistic rhizobia. Plants inoculated with rhizobium strains isolated from N-fertilized treatments produced 17-30% less biomass and had reduced chlorophyll content compared to plants inoculated with strains from unfertilized control plots. Because the legume-rhizobium mutualism is the major contributor of naturally fixed N to terrestrial ecosystems, the evolution of less-cooperative rhizobia may have important environmental consequences.

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