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Ecophysiological and foliar nitrogen concentration responses of understorey Acacia spp. and Eucalyptus sp. to prescribed burning

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Abstract

Eucalyptus spp. is a dominant tree genus in Australia and most Eucalyptus spp. are canopy dominant species. In Australian natural forests, Eucalyptus spp. commonly are associated with understorey legumes which play a crucial role for ecological restoration owing to their nitrogen (N) fixing ability for replenishing the soil N lost after frequent prescribed burning. This study aimed to explore to what extent physiological responses of these species differ 7 and 12 years after last fire. Two most common understorey Acacia spp., Acacia leiocalyx and A. disparrima, as well as one non-leguminous Eucalyptus resinifera, were studied due to their dominance in the forest. Both A. leiocalyx and A. disparrima showed higher carbon (C) assimilation capacity, maximum photosynthetic capacity, and moderate foliar C/N ratio compared with E. resinifera. A. leiocalyx showed various advantages compared to A. disparrima such as higher photosynthetic capacity, adaptation to wider light range and higher foliar total N (TNmass). A. leiocalyx also relied on N2-fixing ability for longer time compared to A. disparrima. The results suggested that the two Acacia spp. were more beneficial to C and N cycles for the post burning ecosystem than the non-N2-fixing species E. resinifera. A. leiocalyx had greater contribution to complementing soil N cycle long after burning compared to A. disparrima.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Bob Coutts and Gary Bacon for identifying plant species, Zhiqun Huang for his field assistance, and also Rene Diocares for his technical supports in the analyses of the samples. LM was supported through a 1-year scholarship under the State Scholarship Fund of China to study as a joint PhD student at Griffith University. ZHX also received the Discovery grants of the Australian Research Council.

Conflict of interest

The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources; Guangdong Key Laboratory for Innovative Development and Utilization of Forest Plant Germplasm, College of Forestry, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, People’s Republic of China

    Ling Ma & Xiaoyang Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Energy Plants Resource and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture; Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy of Guangdong Regular Higher Education Institutions, Institute of New Energy and New Materials, South China Agriculture University, Guangzhou, 510642, People’s Republic of China

    Ling Ma, Xiaoyang Chen & Jun Xie

  3. South China Botanical Garden of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, People’s Republic of China

    Xingquan Rao

  4. Energy Resources of Australia Ltd, GPO Box 2394, Darwin, NT, 0801, Australia

    Ping Lu

  5. Environmental Futures Research Institute, School of Natural Sciences, Griffith University, Nathan, Brisbane, QLD, 4111, Australia

    Shahla Hosseini Bai, Zhihong Xu & Timothy Blumfield

  6. Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD, 4558, Australia

    Shahla Hosseini Bai

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  1. Ling Ma
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  2. Xingquan Rao
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  3. Ping Lu
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  5. Zhihong Xu
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  8. Jun Xie
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Correspondence to Zhihong Xu or Xiaoyang Chen.

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Ma, L., Rao, X., Lu, P. et al. Ecophysiological and foliar nitrogen concentration responses of understorey Acacia spp. and Eucalyptus sp. to prescribed burning. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 10254–10262 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4223-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4223-2

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