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Aim  Elevated inputs of biologically reactive nitrogen (N) are considered to be one of the most substantial threats to biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems. Several attempts have been made to scrutinize the factors driving species loss following excess N input, but generalizations across sites or vegetation types cannot yet be made. Here we focus on the relative importance of the vegetation type, the local environment (climate, soil pH, wet deposition load) and the experimentally applied (cumulative) N dose on the response of the vegetation to N addition.

Location  Mainly North America and Europe.

Methods  We conducted a large‐scale meta‐analysis of in situ N addition experiments in different vegetation types, focusing on the response of biomass and species richness.

Results  Whereas the biomass of grasslands and salt marshes significantly increased with N fertilization, forest understorey vegetation …