Dataset Information

Long-term fertilization determines different metabolomic profiles and responses in saplings of three rainforest tree species with different adult canopy position.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tropical rainforests are frequently limited by soil nutrient availability. However, the response of the metabolic phenotypic plasticity of trees to an increase of soil nutrient availabilities is poorly understood. We expected that increases in the ability of a nutrient that limits some plant processes should be detected by corresponding changes in plant metabolome profile related to such processes.

Methodology/principal findings

We studied the foliar metabolome of saplings of three abundant tree species in a 15 year field NPK fertilization experiment in a Panamanian rainforest. The largest differences were among species and explained 75% of overall metabolome variation. The saplings of the large canopy species, Tetragastris panamensis, had the lowest concentrations of all identified amino acids and the highest concentrations of most identified secondary compounds. The saplings of the "mid canopy" species, Alseis blackiana, had the highest concentrations of amino acids coming from the biosynthesis pathways of glycerate-3P, oxaloacetate and ?-ketoglutarate, and the saplings of the low canopy species, Heisteria concinna, had the highest concentrations of amino acids coming from the pyruvate synthesis pathways.

Conclusions/significance

The changes in metabolome provided strong evidence that different nutrients limit different species in different ways. With increasing P availability, the two canopy species shifted their metabolome towards larger investment in protection mechanisms, whereas with increasing N availability, the sub-canopy species increased its primary metabolism. The results highlighted the proportional distinct use of different nutrients by different species and the resulting different metabolome profiles in this high diversity community are consistent with the ecological niche theory.

SUBMITTER: Gargallo-Garriga A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5426662 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Long-term fertilization determines different metabolomic profiles and responses in saplings of three rainforest tree species with different adult canopy position.

Gargallo-Garriga Albert A Wright S Joseph SJ Sardans Jordi J Pérez-Trujillo Míriam M Oravec Michal M Večeřová Kristýna K Urban Otmar O Fernández-Martínez Marcos M Parella Teodor T Peñuelas Josep J

PloS one 20170511 5

<h4>Background</h4>Tropical rainforests are frequently limited by soil nutrient availability. However, the response of the metabolic phenotypic plasticity of trees to an increase of soil nutrient availabilities is poorly understood. We expected that increases in the ability of a nutrient that limits some plant processes should be detected by corresponding changes in plant metabolome profile related to such processes.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>We studied the foliar metabolome of sapli ...[more]

PMID: 28493911

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Project description:BackgroundThe availability of soil phosphorus (P) often limits the productivities of wet tropical lowland forests. Little is known, however, about the metabolomic profile of different chemical P compounds with potentially different uses and about the cycling of P and their variability across space under different tree species in highly diverse tropical rainforests.ResultsWe hypothesised that the different strategies of the competing tree species to retranslocate, mineralise, mobilise, and take up P from the soil would promote distinct soil 31P profiles. We tested this hypothesis by performing a metabolomic analysis of the soils in two rainforests in French Guiana using 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). We analysed 31P NMR chemical shifts in soil solutions of model P compounds, including inorganic phosphates, orthophosphate mono- and diesters, phosphonates, and organic polyphosphates. The identity of the tree species (growing above the soil samples) explained > 53% of the total variance of the 31P NMR metabolomic profiles of the soils, suggesting species-specific ecological niches and/or species-specific interactions with the soil microbiome and soil trophic web structure and functionality determining the use and production of P compounds. Differences at regional and topographic levels also explained some part of the the total variance of the 31P NMR profiles, although less than the influence of the tree species. Multivariate analyses of soil 31P NMR metabolomics data indicated higher soil concentrations of P biomolecules involved in the active use of P (nucleic acids and molecules involved with energy and anabolism) in soils with lower concentrations of total soil P and higher concentrations of P-storing biomolecules in soils with higher concentrations of total P.ConclusionsThe results strongly suggest "niches" of soil P profiles associated with physical gradients, mostly topographic position, and with the specific distribution of species along this gradient, which is associated with species-specific strategies of soil P mineralisation, mobilisation, use, and uptake.

Project description:Plant-plant interactions influence how forests cope with climate and contribute to modulate species response to future climate scenarios. We analysed the functional relationships between growth, climate and competition for Pinus sylvestris, Quercus pyrenaica and Quercus faginea to investigate how stand competition modifies forest sensitivity to climate and simulated how annual growth rates of these species with different drought tolerance would change throughout the 21st century. Dendroecological data from stands subjected to thinning were modelled using a novel multiplicative nonlinear approach to overcome biases related to the general assumption of a linear relationship between covariates and to better mimic the biological relationships involved. Growth always decreased exponentially with increasing competition, which explained more growth variability than climate in Q. faginea and P. sylvestris. The effect of precipitation was asymptotic in all cases, while the relationship between growth and temperature reached an optimum after which growth declined with warmer temperatures. Our growth projections indicate that the less drought-tolerant P. sylvestris would be more negatively affected by climate change than the studied sub-Mediterranean oaks. Q. faginea and P. sylvestris mean growth would decrease under all the climate change scenarios assessed. However, P. sylvestris growth would decline regardless of the competition level, whereas this decrease would be offset by reduced competition in Q. faginea. Conversely, Q. pyrenaica growth would remain similar to current rates, except for the warmest scenario. Our models shed light on the nature of the species-specific interaction between climate and competition and yield important implications for management. Assuming that individual growth is directly related to tree performance, trees under low competition would better withstand the warmer conditions predicted under climate change scenarios but in a variable manner depending on the species. Thinning following an exponential rule may be desirable to ensure long-term conservation of high-density Mediterranean woodlands, particularly in drought-limited sites.

Dataset Information

Long-term fertilization determines different metabolomic profiles and responses in saplings of three rainforest tree species with different adult canopy position.

Background

Methodology/principal findings

Conclusions/significance

Publications

Long-term fertilization determines different metabolomic profiles and responses in saplings of three rainforest tree species with different adult canopy position.

Similar Datasets

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