Nutrient Additions Help Grassland Plants Survive Drought

An international study on how grasslands respond to extreme drought and increased nutrient availability found that fertilizer can help plants survive short-term periods of extreme drought. Binghamton University reports that field experiments at 26 sites across nine countries showed that while drought reduced plant growth, adding nutrients, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients, increased plant growth enough to result in no net change in growth. Study co-author Amber Churchill explains that adding fertilizer can offset drought effects, but is too expensive to be a long-term solution. Churchill suggests that longer-term research could reveal that the number of plant species present might be an even more important factor in helping grasslands survive drought.