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Foliar C/N stoichiometry in urban forest trees on a global scale

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Abstract

Foliar C/N stoichiometry is an indicator of geochemical cycling in forest ecosystems, but the driving changes for its response to urbanization at the wide scale is not clear. In this study, data on tree-leaf C and N stoichiometry were collected in papers from across 105 tree species from 82 genera and 46 families. The foliar C/N of urban forest trees varied among different climate zones and tree taxonomic variation and tended to be higher in trees of urban forests near the equator and in eastern regions, mainly driven by lowered foliar N concentration. Neither the foliar C concentration nor foliar C/N for trees of urban forests was statistically higher than those of rural forests. For variation by taxonomic classification, C4 species Amaranthus retroflexus and Chenopodium ambrosoides (Amaranthaceae) had lower foliar C/N than did other species and families. Myrsine guianensis (Primulaceae) and Myconia fallax (Asteraceae) had the highest foliar C/N. Therefore, urbanization has not caused a significant response in forest trees for foliar C/N. The change in foliar N concentration was globally the main force driving of the differences in foliar C/N for most tree species in urban forests. More work is needed on foliar C/N in trees at cities in polar regions and the Southern Hemisphere.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Zhibin Ren is acknowledged for his assistance for data collection and figure generation. Dr. Changwei Zhou for his essentially helpful assistance in literature searching and bibliography establishment. Authors are thankful to all anonymous reviewers and associate editors that have contributed to the outcome of final edition for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, People’s Republic of China

    Hongxu Wei & Xingyuan He

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Xingyuan He

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  1. Hongxu Wei
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Correspondence to Xingyuan He.

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Project funding: This study is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41971122, 41861017), Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA23070503), National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0500300), and the Scholarship of Chinese Academy of Sciences for Overseas Study.

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Corresponding editor: Zhu Hong.

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Wei, H., He, X. Foliar C/N stoichiometry in urban forest trees on a global scale. J. For. Res. 32, 1429–1443 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-020-01188-6

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