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Plant N capture from pulses: effects of pulse size, growth rate, and other soil resources

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Abstract

In arid ecosystems, the ability to rapidly capture nitrogen (N) from brief pulses is expected to influence plant growth, survival, and competitive ability. Theory and data suggest that N capture from pulses should depend on plant growth rate and availability of other limiting resources. Theory also predicts trade-offs in plant stress tolerance and ability to capture N from different size pulses. We injected K15NO3, to simulate small and large N pulses at three different times during the growing season into soil around the co-dominant Great Basin species Sarcobatus vermiculatus, Chrysothamnus nauseosus ssp. consimilis, and Distichlis spicata. Soils were amended with water and P in a partial factorial design. As predicted, all study species showed a comparable decline in N capture from large pulses through the season as growth rates slowed. Surprisingly, however, water and P availability differentially influenced the ability of these species to capture N from pulses. Distichlis N capture increased up to tenfold with water addition while Chrysothamnus N capture increased up to threefold with P addition. Sarcobatus N capture was not affected by water or P availability. Opposite to our prediction, Sarcobatus, the most stress tolerant species, captured less N from small pulses but more N from large pulses relative to the other species. These observations suggest that variation in N pulse timing and size can interact with variable soil water and P supply to determine how N is partitioned among co-existing Great Basin species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Blazej, A. Breen, and R. O’Dell, for help with field and lab work, and R. Drenovsky, L. Jackson, and T. Young for manuscript review. This research was supported by the CA State Lands Commission (C99017), The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and NSF grants IBN-99-03004 and IBN-04-16581. Additional support was provided by the California Agricultural Experiment Station and a Jastro-Shields Research Fellowship. We are grateful to Alan Knapp and two anonymous reviewers for providing critical comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616-8627, USA

    J. J. James & J. H. Richards

  2. USDA – Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, 67826-A Hwy 205, Burns, OR, 97720, USA

    J. J. James

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  1. J. J. James
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Correspondence to J. J. James.

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Communicated by Alan Knapp

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James, J.J., Richards, J.H. Plant N capture from pulses: effects of pulse size, growth rate, and other soil resources. Oecologia 145, 113–122 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0109-1

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