Biome-specific effects of nitrogen and phosphorus on the photosynthetic characteristics of trees at a forest-savanna boundary in Cameroon.
Photosynthesis/nutrient relationships of proximally growing forest and savanna trees were determined in an ecotonal region of Cameroon (Africa). Although area-based foliar N concentrations were typically lower for savanna trees, there was no difference in photosynthetic rates between the two vegetation formation types. Opposite to N, area-based P concentrations were-on average-slightly lower for forest trees; a dependency of photosynthetic characteristics on foliar P was only evident for savanna trees. Thus savanna trees use N more efficiently than their forest counterparts, but only in the presence of relatively high foliar P. Along with some other recent studies, these results suggest that both N and P are important modulators of woody tropical plant photosynthetic capacities, influencing photosynthetic metabolism in different ways that are also biome specific. Attempts to find simple unifying equations to describe woody tropical vegetation photosynthesis-nutrient relationships are likely to meet with failure, with ecophysiological distinctions between forest and savanna requiring acknowledgement.
School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Tomas Ferreira
TF
Domingues
F Yoko
FY
Ishida
Ted R
TR
Feldpausch
John
J
Grace
Patrick
P
Meir
Gustavo
G
Saiz
Olivier
O
Sene
Franziska
F
Schrodt
Bonaventure
B
Sonké
Herman
H
Taedoumg
Elmar M
EM
Veenendaal
Simon
S
Lewis
Jon
J
Lloyd
D000349:Africa; D044822:Biodiversity; D002163:Cameroon; D017753:Ecosystem; D004579:Electron Transport; D065928:Forests; D065948:Grassland; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000378:metabolism*; D010788:Photosynthesis; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase / Q000378:metabolism; D013045:Species Specificity; D014197:Trees / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D014329:Tropical Climate
D010758:Phosphorus; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase; D009584:Nitrogen