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Impacts of competition and nitrogen addition on plant stoichiometry and non-structural carbohydrates in two larch species

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Abstract

Previous research has shown that competition between plants can have differential effects on leaf stoichiometry and non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) in different environments. However, little attention has been given to understanding these effects on non-photosynthetic organs, particularly of deciduous tree species. Here we assess the impact of competition on below and aboveground biomass, stoichiometry, nutrient composition and NSC in pure and mixed forests of two Larch species, Larix kaempferi and L. olgensis under nitrogen (N) addition. Nitrogen enrichment did not result in stronger intraspecific competition for both species and L. olgensis benefited from the presence of L. kaempferi under different N levels. Stems kept relatively stable C/N compared to roots and branches in response to competition, while N addition imposed stronger impacts on N/P of different organs rather than competition. In contrast to stable C concentrations, starch and soluble sugar concentrations were more easily impacted by competition and the addition of nitrogen. Competition forced L. kaempferi and L. olgensis to allocate more carbon into storage by increasing their starch concentration and starch/soluble sugar of stems under competition. However, no significant differences in stoichiometry and NSC concentration between intra- and interspecific competition were found. NSC and nutrient pools of L. kaempferi stems, branches and coarse roots consistently declined due to competition regardless of N addition. Coarse and fine roots of L. kaempferi accumulated more N when in competition with L. olgensis than with a conspecific neighbor under N addition. Our results show that NSC was more sensitive to competition relative to stoichiometric traits (N and P) of non-photosynthetic organs.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Qingyuan Experimental Station, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Science for providing experimental sites and support. We also thank Dr. Deliang Lu with helping us in data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, 310036, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoyi Wu, Shiyan Fang, Jieyu Kang, Zhichao Xia & Qingxue Guo

  2. Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Bamboo Resources and Utilization, China National Bamboo Research Center, Hangzhou, 310012, People’s Republic of China

    Xuhua Du

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  1. Xiaoyi Wu
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Correspondence to Qingxue Guo.

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Project funding: This work was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LQ18C030003, LQ18C160004) and Starting Research Fund from Hangzhou Normal University (2018QDL006).

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Corresponding editor: Yanbo Hu

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Wu, X., Du, X., Fang, S. et al. Impacts of competition and nitrogen addition on plant stoichiometry and non-structural carbohydrates in two larch species. J. For. Res. 32, 2087–2098 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-020-01236-1

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