| Title | N, P and K stoichiometry and resorption efficiency of nine dominant shrub species in the deserts of Xinjiang, China |
| Authors | Luo, Yan Peng, Qingwen He, Maosong Zhang, Meixia Liu, Yanyan Gong, Yanming Eziz, Anwar Li, Kaihui Han, Wenxuan |
| Affiliation | Chinese Acad Sci, Xinjiang Inst Ecol & Geog, CAS Key Lab Biogeog & Bioresource Arid Land, Urumqi, Peoples R China Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China China Agr Univ, Coll Resources & Environm Sci, Dept Ecol & Ecol Engn, Beijing, Peoples R China Chinese Acad Sci, Xinjiang Inst Ecol & Geog, Bayanbulak Grassland Ecosyst Res Stn, Bayingol, Peoples R China Peking Univ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China Chinese Acad Sci, Res Ctr Ecol & Environm Cent Asia, Urumqi, Peoples R China |
| Keywords | FOLIAR NUTRIENT RESORPTION LEAF NITROGEN ABSCISIC-ACID PHOSPHORUS STOICHIOMETRY HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY TERRESTRIAL PLANTS MINERAL-NUTRITION WOODY-PLANTS GROWTH-RATE LIFE-FORM |
| Issue Date | Apr-2020 |
| Publisher | ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH |
| Abstract | Plant nutrient stoichiometry and resorption efficiency are important functional traits related to plant nutrient status and biogeochemical cycling. Such traits are not well documented for desert shrubs. We studied how the stoichiometry and resorption efficiency of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) varied among nine dominant desert shrub species through systematically investigating their concentrations in green and senesced leaves (or assimilation branches) of desert plants at 24 sites across Xinjiang, China. We hypothesized that desert shrubs should have low leaf N and P but high leaf K concentrations; and have high leaf N and P but low K resorption efficiency, given the low N and P but high K availability in this arid region. These shrubs had a mean leaf N concentration of 18.9 mg g(-1), and lower leaf P but higher leaf K concentration (1.2 and 17.0 mg g(-1), respectively) than desert plants at national and global levels. The mean (+/- SE) resorption efficiencies of leaf N, P and K in the desert shrubs were 51.0 +/- 2.4%, 54.9 +/- 2.0% and 46.3 +/- 3.5%, respectively, lower than in the woody plants globally. The higher green-leaf N:P (17.2 +/- 0.8) and K:P (15.3 +/- 1.0) relative to the corresponding critical ratios, and the higher P resorption efficiency (54.9%) relative to N (51.0%) and K (46.3%) resorption efficiency, suggested that the dominant desert shrubs in Xinjiang generally suffer from P (or both P and N) deficiency. Additionally, our results showed little evidence of higher resorption relative to their counterparts in most other ecosystems. |
| URI | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/606584 |
| ISSN | 0912-3814 |
| DOI | 10.1111/1440-1703.12111 |
| Indexed | SCI(E) Scopus |
| Appears in Collections: | 城市与环境学院 |
