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Stoichiometry of C:N:P in the Roots of Alhagi sparsifolia Is More Sensitive to Soil Nutrients Than Aboveground Organs

The stoichiometry of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus (C:N:P) among leaves, stems, and roots reflects trade-offs in plants for acquiring resources and their growth strategy. The widely distributed plant Alhagi sparsifolia is an ideal species to study the ecological stoichiometry in different organs...

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Autores principales: Yin, Hui, Zheng, Hongwei, Zhang, Bo, Tariq, Akash, Lv, Guanghui, Zeng, Fanjiang, Graciano, Corina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8545904/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34712247
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.698961
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author Yin, Hui
Zheng, Hongwei
Zhang, Bo
Tariq, Akash
Lv, Guanghui
Zeng, Fanjiang
Graciano, Corina
author_facet Yin, Hui
Zheng, Hongwei
Zhang, Bo
Tariq, Akash
Lv, Guanghui
Zeng, Fanjiang
Graciano, Corina
author_sort Yin, Hui
collection PubMed
description The stoichiometry of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus (C:N:P) among leaves, stems, and roots reflects trade-offs in plants for acquiring resources and their growth strategy. The widely distributed plant Alhagi sparsifolia is an ideal species to study the ecological stoichiometry in different organs in response to the availability of nutrients and water in the desert ecosystem. However, which response of organs is most sensitive to environmental conditions is still unclear. To answer this question, we collected samples of plants and soils including not only aboveground leaves and stems, but also underground roots and soils from a wide range of arid areas during the growing season. The C, N, P, C:N, C:P, and N:P ratios in leaves, thorns, stems, and roots were derived to explore their relationship as well as their response mechanisms to nutrients and water spanning 1 m deep in the soil. The results showed that the order of N concentration was leaves > thorns > stems > roots, that the concentration of P in the leaves, thorns, and stems was similar, and that their values were higher than those in the roots. First, the C:N ratios in the leaves and stems were significantly positively correlated with the ratio in roots. The C:N ratios in each organ showed a significant relationship with the soil alkali hydrolyzable nitrogen (SAN) above a depth of 60 cm. In addition to SAN, soil available phosphorus (SAP) and soil organic carbon (SOC) affect the C:N ratio in the roots. Second, the C:P and N:P ratios in aboveground organs showed no correlations with the ratios in roots. The C:P and N:P ratios in the leaves and thorns have no relationship with soil nutrients, while the C:P ratio in roots was influenced by SAN and SOC in all soil layers. Finally, the N:P ratios in roots were also affected by nutrients in different soil depths at 0–20 and 60–80 cm. These results illustrate that the roots were more sensitive to soil nutrients than the aboveground parts. Our study of ecological stoichiometry also suggests a novel systematic approach for analyzing the sensitivity of responses of an organ to environmental conditions.
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spelling pubmed-85459042021-10-27 Stoichiometry of C:N:P in the Roots of Alhagi sparsifolia Is More Sensitive to Soil Nutrients Than Aboveground Organs Yin, Hui Zheng, Hongwei Zhang, Bo Tariq, Akash Lv, Guanghui Zeng, Fanjiang Graciano, Corina Front Plant Sci Plant Science The stoichiometry of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus (C:N:P) among leaves, stems, and roots reflects trade-offs in plants for acquiring resources and their growth strategy. The widely distributed plant Alhagi sparsifolia is an ideal species to study the ecological stoichiometry in different organs in response to the availability of nutrients and water in the desert ecosystem. However, which response of organs is most sensitive to environmental conditions is still unclear. To answer this question, we collected samples of plants and soils including not only aboveground leaves and stems, but also underground roots and soils from a wide range of arid areas during the growing season. The C, N, P, C:N, C:P, and N:P ratios in leaves, thorns, stems, and roots were derived to explore their relationship as well as their response mechanisms to nutrients and water spanning 1 m deep in the soil. The results showed that the order of N concentration was leaves > thorns > stems > roots, that the concentration of P in the leaves, thorns, and stems was similar, and that their values were higher than those in the roots. First, the C:N ratios in the leaves and stems were significantly positively correlated with the ratio in roots. The C:N ratios in each organ showed a significant relationship with the soil alkali hydrolyzable nitrogen (SAN) above a depth of 60 cm. In addition to SAN, soil available phosphorus (SAP) and soil organic carbon (SOC) affect the C:N ratio in the roots. Second, the C:P and N:P ratios in aboveground organs showed no correlations with the ratios in roots. The C:P and N:P ratios in the leaves and thorns have no relationship with soil nutrients, while the C:P ratio in roots was influenced by SAN and SOC in all soil layers. Finally, the N:P ratios in roots were also affected by nutrients in different soil depths at 0–20 and 60–80 cm. These results illustrate that the roots were more sensitive to soil nutrients than the aboveground parts. Our study of ecological stoichiometry also suggests a novel systematic approach for analyzing the sensitivity of responses of an organ to environmental conditions. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-10-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8545904/ /pubmed/34712247 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.698961 Text en Copyright © 2021 Yin, Zheng, Zhang, Tariq, Lv, Zeng and Graciano. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Yin, Hui
Zheng, Hongwei
Zhang, Bo
Tariq, Akash
Lv, Guanghui
Zeng, Fanjiang
Graciano, Corina
Stoichiometry of C:N:P in the Roots of Alhagi sparsifolia Is More Sensitive to Soil Nutrients Than Aboveground Organs
title Stoichiometry of C:N:P in the Roots of Alhagi sparsifolia Is More Sensitive to Soil Nutrients Than Aboveground Organs
title_full Stoichiometry of C:N:P in the Roots of Alhagi sparsifolia Is More Sensitive to Soil Nutrients Than Aboveground Organs
title_fullStr Stoichiometry of C:N:P in the Roots of Alhagi sparsifolia Is More Sensitive to Soil Nutrients Than Aboveground Organs
title_full_unstemmed Stoichiometry of C:N:P in the Roots of Alhagi sparsifolia Is More Sensitive to Soil Nutrients Than Aboveground Organs
title_short Stoichiometry of C:N:P in the Roots of Alhagi sparsifolia Is More Sensitive to Soil Nutrients Than Aboveground Organs
title_sort stoichiometry of c:n:p in the roots of alhagi sparsifolia is more sensitive to soil nutrients than aboveground organs
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8545904/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34712247
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.698961
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