Abstract
Foliar nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P) status and their stoichiometric homeostasis are integral parts of the plant nutrient economy that determines the success of plant species in environments where N or P limits plant growth. Despite growing evidence for higher predictability of stoichiometric homeostasis of N (HN) than that of P (HP) on plant species abundance in temperate grasslands, no previous studies explicitly examined how foliar N and P status modulate the relationships between stoichiometric homeostasis and species distribution (regional species abundance) of woody plants, especially in P-limited (sub)tropical ecosystems. We hypothesized that species with a conservative foliar nutrient status but a higher HP (but not HN) would be regional abundant in P-limited forest. We measured foliar N (LNC) and P (LPC) contents of 54 woody species, community composition and soil N and P contents across 94 forest plots in Chinese subtropical forests. Then we evaluated the species' levels of N and P stoichiometric homeostasis and their regional abundance to test our hypotheses. HN and HP significantly increased with decreasing LNC and LPC. Foliar nutrient status positively correlated with the minimum values of both soil N and P contents, but only negatively associated with the maximum value of soil P content, indicating that conservative species can occupy a wider range of soil P- than N-based nutrient niche. Meanwhile, species abundance negatively correlated with LNC and LPC, and positively correlated with HN and HP. However, the structure equation model analysis showed that species abundance increased with decline of LNC but not yet with increased HN. In contrast, species abundance enhanced with increased HP and decreased LPC via HP, rather than directly with a decline of LPC. Synthesis. This study provides empirical evidence that species with conservative foliar nutrient status are more stable in terms of N and P stoichiometric homeostasis, and foliar N and P economy modulate species abundance distribution in different ways. Our results suggest that maintaining strong stoichiometric homeostasis of leaf P, while maintaining conservative economy of N, is a key physiochemical mechanism for shaping species abundance distribution in P-limited forests.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1497-1507 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Ecology |
Volume | 110 |
Issue number | 7 |
Early online date | 12 May 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors thank Xiangyu Liu, Danni Zhu, Junyang Cheng, Yantao Zhao, Liuli Zhou, Fang Yin, Tonghui Yang, Yanjun Song and Arshad Ali for their assistance for measuring plant and soil nutrients and investigating community composition. This study was supported by the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 32030068).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Ecology © 2022 British Ecological Society.
Funding
The authors thank Xiangyu Liu, Danni Zhu, Junyang Cheng, Yantao Zhao, Liuli Zhou, Fang Yin, Tonghui Yang, Yanjun Song and Arshad Ali for their assistance for measuring plant and soil nutrients and investigating community composition. This study was supported by the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 32030068).
Funders | Funder number |
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National Natural Science Foundation of China | 32030068 |
National Natural Science Foundation of China |
Keywords
- Foliar nutrient status
- N:P ratio
- nutrient limitation
- plant nutrient economy
- soil nutrient gradient
- species abundance
- stoichiometric homeostasis