Dataset Information

Divergent scaling of respiration rates to nitrogen and phosphorus across four woody seedlings between different growing seasons.

ABSTRACT: Empirical studies indicate that the exponents governing the scaling of plant respiration rates (R) with respect to biomass (M) numerically vary between three-fourth for adult plants and 1.0 for seedlings and saplings and are affected by nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content. However, whether the scaling of R with respect to M (or N and P) varies among different phylogenetic groups (e.g., gymnosperms vs. angiosperms) or during the growing and dormant seasons remains unclear. We measured the whole-plant R and M, and N and P content of the seedlings of four woody species during the growing season (early October) and the dormant season (January). The data show that (i) the scaling exponents of R versus M, R versus N, and R versus P differed significantly among the four species, but (ii), not between the growing and dormant seasons for each of the four species, although (iii) the normalization constants governing the scaling relationships were numerically greater for the growing season compared to the dormant season. In addition, (iv) the scaling exponents of R versus M, R versus N, and R versus P were numerically larger for the two angiosperm species compared to those of the two gymnosperm species, (v) the interspecific scaling exponents for the four species were greater during the growing season than in the dormant season, and (vi), interspecifically, P scaled nearly isometric with N content. Those findings indicate that the metabolic scaling relationships among R, M, N, and P manifest seasonal variation and differ between angiosperm and gymnosperm species, that is, there is no single, canonical scaling exponent for the seedlings of woody species.

SUBMITTER: Fan R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5677492 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Divergent scaling of respiration rates to nitrogen and phosphorus across four woody seedlings between different growing seasons.

Fan Ruirui R Sun Jun J Yang Fuchun F Li Man M Zheng Yuan Y Zhong Quanlin Q Cheng Dongliang D

Ecology and evolution 20170918 21

Empirical studies indicate that the exponents governing the scaling of plant respiration rates (R) with respect to biomass (M) numerically vary between three-fourth for adult plants and 1.0 for seedlings and saplings and are affected by nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content. However, whether the scaling of R with respect to M (or N and P) varies among different phylogenetic groups (e.g., gymnosperms vs. angiosperms) or during the growing and dormant seasons remains ...[more]

PMID: 29152175

Similar Datasets

Project description:Most previous studies have ascribed variations in the resorption of a certain plant nutrient to its corresponding environmental availability or level in tissues, regardless of the other nutrients' status. However, given that plant growth relies on both sufficient and balanced nutrient supply, the nutrient resorption process should not only be related to the absolute nutrient status, but also be regulated by the relative limitation of the nutrient. Here, based on a global woody-plants dataset from literature, we test the hypothesis that plants resorb proportionately more nitrogen (or phosphorus) when they are nitrogen (or phosphorus) limited, or similar proportions of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) when co-limited by both nutrients (the relative resorption hypothesis). Using the N:P ratio in green foliage as an indicator of nutrient limitation, we found an inverse relationship between the difference in the proportionate resorption of N vs P and this foliar N:P ratio, consistent across species, growth-forms, and vegetation-types globally. Moreover, according to the relative resorption hypothesis, communities with higher/lower foliar N:P (more likely P/N limited) tend to produce litter with disproportionately higher/lower N:P, causing a worsening status of P/N availability; this positive feedback may somehow be counteracted by several negative-feedback mechanisms. Compared to N, P generally shows higher variability in resorption efficiency (proportion resorbed), and higher resorption sensitivity to nutrient availability, implying that the resorption of P seems more important for plant nutrient conservation and N:P stoichiometry. Our findings elucidate the nutrient limitation effects on resorption efficiency in woody plants at the global scale, and thus can improve the understanding of nutrient resorption process in plants. This study also suggests the importance of the foliar N:P ratio as a key parameter for biogeochemical modeling, and the relative resorption hypothesis used to deduce the critical (optimal) N:P ratio for a specific plant community.

Dataset Information

Divergent scaling of respiration rates to nitrogen and phosphorus across four woody seedlings between different growing seasons.

Publications

Divergent scaling of respiration rates to nitrogen and phosphorus across four woody seedlings between different growing seasons.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets