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Imbalanced plant stoichiometry at contrasting geologic-derived phosphorus sites in subtropics: the role of microelements and plant functional group

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Abstract

Background and Aim

Subtropical soils are generally characterized as deficient in phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg), but rich in iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al). However, soils developed in phosphate rock are extremely P-rich in subtropical forests, southwestern China. Factors controlling plant stoichiometric traits across variable P sites are still not clear.

Methods

We investigated leaf macroelements (C, N, P, K, Ca and Mg), microelements (Mn, Fe, Zn, and Cu), and non-essential elements (Na and Al) and their element:P ratios for 21 woody plant species at both P-rich and P-deficient sites.

Results

Plants between the two P type sites were mainly discriminated by Mn, Al, N and their P ratios, and between functional groups by Cu, Fe, Zn and their P ratios. There were higher leaf N, P, K, Ca, Fe and Zn concentrations but lower Mn, Cu and Al at the P-rich sites. Evergreen conifers displayed strict homeostasis while evergreen and deciduous broadleaf were more plastic and had variable ratios across different nutrients.

Conclusion

Microelements have strong influences on plant stoichiometry to differentiate geologic-derived P sites in subtropics, and three functional group plants have adopted different stoichiometric strategies under variable nutrient conditions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFC0502501) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 31670626, 31270640 and 31070532). We are grateful to the support by the Instrumental Analysis Center of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. We thank Dr. Wuyuan Yin for his invaluable help in identifying tree species and anonymous reviewers for their precious comments and constructive suggestions to improve this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Agriculture and Biology and Research Centre for Low-Carbon Agriculture, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dongchuan Rd. 800, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Jiahao Wen, Huawei Ji, Ningxiao Sun, Huimin Tao, Baoming Du & Chunjiang Liu

  2. Shanghai Urban Forest Research Station, State Forestry Administration, Shanghai, China

    Jiahao Wen, Huawei Ji, Ningxiao Sun, Huimin Tao, Baoming Du & Chunjiang Liu

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Dafeng Hui

  4. Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai, China

    Chunjiang Liu

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  1. Jiahao Wen
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  2. Huawei Ji
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Correspondence to Chunjiang Liu.

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Wen, J., Ji, H., Sun, N. et al. Imbalanced plant stoichiometry at contrasting geologic-derived phosphorus sites in subtropics: the role of microelements and plant functional group. Plant Soil 430, 113–125 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3728-0

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