Dataset Information

Spatial Patterns of Leaf Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Stoichiometry of Aquatic Macrophytes in the Arid Zone of Northwestern China.

ABSTRACT: Ecological stoichiometry is a powerful indicator for understanding the adaptation of plants to environment. However, understanding of stoichiometric characteristics of leaf carbon (C%), nitrogen (N%), and phosphorus (P%) for aquatic macrophytes remains limited. In this study, 707 samples from 146 sites were collected to study the variations in leaf C%, N%, and P%, and tried to explore how different environmental conditions affect leaf C, N, and P stoichiometry. Results showed that the mean values of leaf C%, N%, P%, and N:P ratios were 39.95%, 2.12%, 0.14%, and 16.60% of macrophytes across the arid zone of northwestern China, respectively. And the mean values of leaf P% were lower than those from the Tibetan Plateau and eastern China, which maybe due to an adaptation strategy of the plants to the unique conditions in the arid zone in the long-term evolutionary process. The higher N:P ratios suggested that P was established as the limiting factor of the macrophytes communities in the arid zone of northwestern China. There were significant differences in leaf C%, N%, P%, and their ratios among different life forms. Our results also showed strong relationships between leaf N% and N:P ratios and longitude, leaf N%, P%, and N:P ratios and latitude, and leaf N% and P% and altitude, respectively. In addition, the results showed that pH can significantly influence leaf C%. Our results supported the temperature-plant physiology hypothesis owing to a negative relationship between leaf N% and P% of macrophytes and mean annual temperature in the arid zone of northwestern China. The different patterns of leaf stoichiometry between the arid zone of northwestern China and eastern China indicated that there were different physiological and ecological adaptability of macrophytes to environmental gradients in different climatic zones.

SUBMITTER: Gong X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6160588 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Spatial Patterns of Leaf Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Stoichiometry of Aquatic Macrophytes in the Arid Zone of Northwestern China.

Gong Xusheng X Xu Zhiyan Z Lu Wei W Tian Yuqing Y Liu Yaheng Y Wang Zhengxiang Z Dai Can C Zhao Jinghui J Li Zhongqiang Z

Frontiers in plant science 20180921

Ecological stoichiometry is a powerful indicator for understanding the adaptation of plants to environment. However, understanding of stoichiometric characteristics of leaf carbon (C%), nitrogen (N%), and phosphorus (P%) for aquatic macrophytes remains limited. In this study, 707 samples from 146 sites were collected to study the variations in leaf C%, N%, and P%, and tried to explore how different environmental conditions affect leaf C, N, and P stoichiometry. Results showed that the mean value ...[more]

PMID: 30298083

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Project description:The effects of increasing nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deposition on the nutrient stoichiometry of soil and plant are gaining improving recognition. However, whether and how the responses of N cycle coupled with P of the soil-plant system to external N and P deposition in alpine grassland is still unclear. A short-term external N and P addition experiment was conducted in an alpine grazing grassland in the KunLun Mountain to explore the effects of short-term N and P addition on the nutrient stoichiometry in soil and plant. Different rates of N addition (ranging from 0.5 g N m-2 yr-1 to 24 g N m-2 yr-1) and P addition (ranging from 0.05 g N m-2 yr-1 to 3.2 g P m-2 yr-1) were supplied, and the soil available N, P, leaf N and P stoichiometry of Seriphidium rhodanthum which dominant in the alpine ecosystem were measured. Results showed that N addition increased soil inorganic N, leaf C, leaf N, and leaf N:P ratio but decreased soil available P and leaf C:P. Furthermore, P addition increased soil available P, leaf P, soil inorganic N, leaf N, and leaf C and reduced leaf C:N, C:P, and N:P ratios. Leaf N:P was positively related to N addition gradient. Leaf C:P and leaf N:P were significantly negatively related to P addition gradient. Although external N and P addition changed the value of leaf N:P, the ratio was always lower than 16 in all treatments. The influences of P addition on soil and plant mainly caused the increase in soil available P concentration. In addition, the N and P cycles in the soil-plant system were tightly coupled in P addition but decoupled in N addition condition. The nutrient stoichiometry of soil and leaf responded differently to continuous N and P addition gradients. These data suggested that the alpine grazing grassland was limited by P rather than N due to long-term N deposition and uniform fertilization. Moreover, increasing P addition alleviated P limitation. Therefore, the imbalanced N and P input could change the strategy of nutrient use of the grass and then change the rates of nutrient cycling in the alpine grassland ecosystem in the future.

Project description:Nutrient elements are important for plant growth. Element stoichiometry considers the balance between different nutrients and how this balance is affected by the environment. So far, focus of plant stoichiometry has mainly been on the three elements carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P), but many additional elements are essential for proper plant growth. Our overall aim is to test the scaling relations of various additional elements (K, Ca, Mg, S, Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn), by using ten data sets from a range of plant functional types and environmental conditions. To simultaneously handle more than one element, we define a stoichiometric niche volume as the volume of an abstract multidimensional shape in n dimensions, with the n sides of this shape defined by the plant properties in question, here their element concentrations. Thus, a stoichiometric niche volume is here defined as the product of element concentrations. The volumes of N and P (VNP ) are used as the basis, and we investigate how the volume of other elements (VOth ) scales with respect to VNP¸ with the intention to explore if the concentrations of other elements increase faster (scaling exponent > 1) or slower (<1) than the concentrations of N and P. For example, scaling exponents >1 suggest that favorable conditions for plant growth, i.e., environments rich in N and P, may require proportionally higher uptake of other essential elements than poor conditions. We show that the scaling exponent is rather insensitive to environmental conditions or plant species, and ranges from 0.900 to 2.479 (average 1.58) in nine out of ten data sets. For single elements, Mg has the smallest scaling exponent (0.031) and Mn the largest (2.147). Comparison between laboratory determined stoichiometric relations and field observations suggest that element uptake in field conditions often exceeds the minimal physiological requirements. The results provide evidence for the view that the scaling relations previously reported for N and P can be extended to other elements; and that N and P are the driving elements in plant stoichiometric relations. The stoichiometric niche volumes defined here could be used to predict plant performances in different environments.

Dataset Information

Spatial Patterns of Leaf Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Stoichiometry of Aquatic Macrophytes in the Arid Zone of Northwestern China.

Publications

Spatial Patterns of Leaf Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Stoichiometry of Aquatic Macrophytes in the Arid Zone of Northwestern China.

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