title: Nutrient allocation strategies of woody plants: an approach from the scaling of nitrogen and phosphorus between twig stems and leaves.
abstract: Allocation of limited nutrients, such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), among plant organs reflects the influences of evolutionary and ecological processes on functional traits of plants, and thus is related to functional groups and environmental conditions. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by exploring the stoichiometric scaling of N and P concentrations between twig stems and leaves of 335 woody species from 12 forest sites across eastern China. Scaling exponents of twig stem N (or P) to leaf N (or P) varied among functional groups. With increasing latitude, these scaling exponents significantly decreased from >1 at low latitude to <1 at high latitude across the study area. These results suggested that, as plant nutrient concentration increased, plants at low latitudes showed a faster increase in twig stem nutrient concentration, whereas plants at high latitudes presented a faster increase in leaf nutrient concentration. Such shifts in nutrient allocation strategy from low to high latitudes may be controlled by temperature. Overall, our findings provide a new approach to explore plant nutrient allocation strategies by analysing the stoichiometric scaling of nutrients among organs, which could broaden our understanding of the interactions between plants and their environments.
authors: Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China 100871.
authors: Zhengbing
authors: Z
authors: Yan
authors: Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China 100871.
authors: Peng
authors: P
authors: Li
authors: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China 100093.
authors: Yahan
authors: Y
authors: Chen
authors: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Organic Farming, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China 100193.
authors: Wenxuan
authors: W
authors: Han
authors: Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China 100871.
authors: Jingyun
authors: J
authors: Fang
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D065928:Forests; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D013696:Temperature; D014197:Trees / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen