Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40281087›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Frequent failure of nutrients to increase plant biomass supports the need for precision fertilization in agriculture.

Oliver H Carroll, Eric W Seabloom, Elizabeth T Borer, W Stanley Harpole, Peter Wilfahrt, Carlos A Arnillas, Jonathan D Bakker, Dana M Blumenthal, Elizabeth Boughton, Miguel N Bugalho and 33 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

43 authors.

Oliver H CarrollDepartment of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
Eric W SeabloomDepartment of Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
Elizabeth T BorerDepartment of Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
W Stanley HarpoleGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
Peter WilfahrtDepartment of Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
Carlos A ArnillasDepartment of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Scarborough, ON, Canada.
Jonathan D BakkerSchool of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Dana M BlumenthalRangeland Resources & Systems Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
Elizabeth BoughtonArchbold Biological Station, Venus, FL, USA.
Miguel N BugalhoCenter for Applied Ecology, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
Maria CaldeiraCenter for Forest Studies, Associated Laboratory TERRA, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
Malcolm M CampbellDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
Jane CatfordDepartment of Geography, King's College London, London, UK.
Qingqing ChenGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
Christopher R DickmanSchool of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Ian DonohueSchool of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Mary Ellyn DuPreMPG Ranch, Missoula, MT, USA.
Anu EskelinenEcology and Genetics Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Catalina EstradaDepartment of Life Sciences, Imperial College, London, UK.
Philip A FayUSDA Agricultural Research Service, Washington, DC, USA.
Evan D G FraserDepartment of Geography, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
Nicole HagenahMammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Yann HautierDepartment of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Erika Hersh-GreenDepartment of Biological Sciences, Michigan Technical University, Houghton, MI, USA.
Ingibjörg S JónsdóttirLife and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.
Taku KadoyaNational Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan.
Kimberly KomatsuBiology Department, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA.
Luciola LannesDepartment of Biology and Animal Sciences, State University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Maowei LiangCedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, University of Minnesota, East Bethel, MN, USA.
Harry Olde VenterinkWildness, Biodiversity and Ecosystems under change (WILD), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
Pablo PeriUniversidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral-INTA-CONICET, La Plata, Argentina.
Sally A PowerHawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
Jodi N PriceGulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia.
Zhengwei RenCollege of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
Anita C RischSwiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
Grégory SonnierArchbold Biological Station, Venus, FL, USA.
G F VeenNetherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Risto VirtanenEcology and Genetics Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Glenda M WardleSchool of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Elizabeth F WaringDepartment of Natural Sciences, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK, USA.
George WheelerSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
Laura YahdjianCátedra de Ecología, Facultad de Agronomía, Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura (IFEVA-CONICET), Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Andrew S MacDougallDepartment of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada. asm@uoguelph.ca.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Implementing precision fertilization to maximize crop yield while minimizing economic and environmental impacts has become critical for agriculture. Variability in biomass response to fertilization within fields, among regions, and over time creates simultaneous risks of under-yielding and overfertilization. We quantify factors determining fertilization responsiveness (i.e., biomass increases with fertilization) up to 15 years in 61 unfertilized rangelands on six continents. We demonstrate widespread multi-year variability in responsiveness, with fertilization increasing average yield by 43% but failing to improve biomass 26% of the time. All sites were responsive at least once, but only four of 61 responded in all plots and years. Modelled management scenarios highlighted that fertilizer cessation is likely to generate sizable economic savings but always reduces yield because of the difficulty in predicting when and where biomass will be unresponsive. This work reveals substantial scale-dependent variability in fertilization responsiveness globally, while clarifying the prospects and pitfalls of managing more spatially and temporally precise nutrient application.

Indexed as

AgricultureBiomassCrops, AgriculturalFertilizersNutrientsFertilizersNutrientsFertilizer responsivenessGrasslandsNutrient limitationPrecision agriculturePrecision fertilizationRangelands

Identifiers

PMID40281087
PMCPMC12032013

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.