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Species divergence in seedling leaf traits and tree growth response to nitrogen and phosphorus additions in an evergreen broadleaved forest of subtropical China

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Abstract

Tree competitiveness generally depends on trait plasticity in response to environmental change. The effects of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) on leaf trait variability by species is poorly understood, especially in China’s subtropical forests. This study examined the seedling leaf traits and net primary productivity of all trees ˃5 cm DBH of two dominant species, Schima superba and Castanopsis carlesii, in an evergreen broadleaved forest fertilized with nitrogen (+ N), phosphorus (+ P), and nitrogen plus phosphorus (N + P). The effect of N on seedling leaf traits was stronger than P, while fertilization in general was species dependent. Leaf mass per unit area decreased with N for S. superba seedlings but not for C. carlesii. Leaf N, P, and N/P ratios changed with N addition for both species. All four N fractions of carboxylation, bioenergetics, cell wall, and other N metabolites in C. carlesii leaves responded significantly to fertilization, while only the cell wall in S. superba leaves responded. Other leaf functional traits, including light-saturated photosynthetic rates, water, N, and P use efficiencies, chlorophyll and nonstructural carbohydrate contents increased with N addition in S. superba and by P addition in C. carlesii. Canopy closure at the stand-level increased due to N. Litter biomass and relative growth rate of S. superba was not affected by any treatments, while both for C. carlesii significantly decreased with N + P addition. Collectively, nutrient limitation may vary at a small scale among species in a subtropical forest based on their responses of seedling traits and net primary productivity to fertilization. Seedling traits are not correlated with the net primary productivity of larger trees except for N fractions, because low light conditions induced by fertilization reduces the proportion of N allocated to photosynthesis in seedlings. In addition, acclimation differences of tree species may increase the uncertainty of community succession.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciate Yong Lin and Wei Chen for their help in field sampling and laboratory measurement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration On Forest Ecosystem Protection and Restoration of Poyang Lake Watershed, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, People’s Republic of China

    Xuemin Ye, Wensheng Bu, Bin Liu, Kuan Liang & Fusheng Chen

  2. Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Silviculture, College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, People’s Republic of China

    Xuemin Ye, Wensheng Bu, Bin Liu, Kuan Liang & Fusheng Chen

  3. School of Management, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330045, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaofei Hu

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  1. Xuemin Ye
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  2. Wensheng Bu
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  3. Xiaofei Hu
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Correspondence to Fusheng Chen.

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Project funding: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 31870427 & 31730014) and by Jiangxi Province 2019 Graduate Innovation Fund Project (grant number YC2019-b061).

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Corresponding editor: Yanbo Hu.

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Ye, X., Bu, W., Hu, X. et al. Species divergence in seedling leaf traits and tree growth response to nitrogen and phosphorus additions in an evergreen broadleaved forest of subtropical China. J. For. Res. 34, 137–150 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-021-01437-2

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