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Effects of precipitation regime and soil nitrogen on leaf traits in seasonally dry tropical forests of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

  • Ecosystem ecology - Original research
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Abstract

Leaf traits are closely associated with nutrient use by plants and can be utilized as a proxy for nutrient cycling processes. However, open questions remain, in particular regarding the variability of leaf traits within and across seasonally dry tropical forests. To address this, we considered six leaf traits (specific area, thickness, dry matter content, N content, P content and natural abundance 15N) of four co-occurring tree species (two that are not associated with N2-fixing bacteria and two that are associated with N2-fixing bacteria) and net N mineralization rates and inorganic N concentrations along a precipitation gradient (537–1036 mm per year) in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Specifically we sought to test the hypothesis that leaf traits of dominant plant species shift along a precipitation gradient, but are affected by soil N cycling. Although variation among different species within each site explains some leaf trait variation, there is also a high level of variability across sites, suggesting that factors other than precipitation regime more strongly influence leaf traits. Principal component analyses indicated that across sites and tree species, covariation in leaf traits is an indicator of soil N availability. Patterns of natural abundance 15N in foliage and foliage minus soil suggest that variation in precipitation regime drives a shift in plant N acquisition and the openness of the N cycle. Overall, our study shows that both plant species and site are important determinants of leaf traits, and that the leaf trait spectrum is correlated with soil N cycling.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank José Erales Villamil and Carlos Nah for access to study sites. We thank Rommel Mo Aldana and Nicolas Salinas for their help in the field, and Enrique Solís for his help in the laboratory. This study was supported by PAPIIT-UNAM, no. 220610 and CONACYT 154754 grants. We are grateful to three anonymous referees for valuable and constructive criticism on earlier drafts of this paper.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest with the organizations that sponsored the research.

Ethical standard

The experiments presented in this manuscript comply with the current laws in Mexico, where the experiments were performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro del Cambio Global y la Sustentabilidad en el Sureste, Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico

    Lilia L. Roa-Fuentes

  2. Boston University, Boston, USA

    Pamela H. Templer

  3. Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70275, 04510, Mexico, D.F., Mexico

    Julio Campo

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  1. Lilia L. Roa-Fuentes
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  2. Pamela H. Templer
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  3. Julio Campo
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Correspondence to Julio Campo.

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Communicated by Gerardo Avalos.

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Roa-Fuentes, L.L., Templer, P.H. & Campo, J. Effects of precipitation regime and soil nitrogen on leaf traits in seasonally dry tropical forests of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Oecologia 179, 585–597 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3354-y

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