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Relationship between the Relative Limitation and Resorption Efficiency of Nitrogen vs Phosphorus in Woody Plants

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 nu...

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Autores principales: Han, Wenxuan, Tang, Luying, Chen, Yahan, Fang, Jingyun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3871644/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24376694
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083366
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author Han, Wenxuan
Tang, Luying
Chen, Yahan
Fang, Jingyun
author_facet Han, Wenxuan
Tang, Luying
Chen, Yahan
Fang, Jingyun
author_sort Han, Wenxuan
collection PubMed
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.
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spelling pubmed-38716442013-12-27 Relationship between the Relative Limitation and Resorption Efficiency of Nitrogen vs Phosphorus in Woody Plants Han, Wenxuan Tang, Luying Chen, Yahan Fang, Jingyun PLoS One Research Article 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. Public Library of Science 2013-12-23 /pmc/articles/PMC3871644/ /pubmed/24376694 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083366 Text en © 2013 Han et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Han, Wenxuan
Tang, Luying
Chen, Yahan
Fang, Jingyun
Relationship between the Relative Limitation and Resorption Efficiency of Nitrogen vs Phosphorus in Woody Plants
title Relationship between the Relative Limitation and Resorption Efficiency of Nitrogen vs Phosphorus in Woody Plants
title_full Relationship between the Relative Limitation and Resorption Efficiency of Nitrogen vs Phosphorus in Woody Plants
title_fullStr Relationship between the Relative Limitation and Resorption Efficiency of Nitrogen vs Phosphorus in Woody Plants
title_full_unstemmed Relationship between the Relative Limitation and Resorption Efficiency of Nitrogen vs Phosphorus in Woody Plants
title_short Relationship between the Relative Limitation and Resorption Efficiency of Nitrogen vs Phosphorus in Woody Plants
title_sort relationship between the relative limitation and resorption efficiency of nitrogen vs phosphorus in woody plants
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3871644/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24376694
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083366
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