Figure 1.

Schematic diagram of linkages between nutrient and priming effects in low‐nutrient ecosystems. Arrows represent processes that produce or influence the various pools of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and nutrients. For example, nutrients stimulate primary production, which creates fresh DOM. Subsequently, fresh DOM may exert a positive or negative priming effect on the overall DOM pool. In eutrophic ecosystems such as agricultural and urban environments, nutrient effects can be decoupled from priming by the addition of anthropogenic nutrients and removal of fresh DOM sources during harvesting.