Biogeography and variability of eleven mineral elements in plant leaves across gradients of climate, soil and plant functional type in China

Abstract

Understanding variation of plant nutrients is largely limited to nitrogen and to a lesser extent phosphorus. Here we analyse patterns of variation in 11 elements (nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium/calcium/magnesium/sulphur/silicon/iron/sodium/manganese/aluminium) in leaves of 1900 plant species across China. The concentrations of these elements show significant latitudinal and longitudinal trends, driven by significant influences of climate, soil and plant functional type. Precipitation explains more variation than temperature for all elements except phosphorus and aluminium, and the 11 elements differentiate in relation to climate, soil and functional type. Variability (assessed as the coefficient of variation) and environmental sensitivity (slope of responses to environmental gradients) are lowest for elements that are required in the highest concentrations, most abundant and most often limiting in nature (the Stability of Limiting Elements Hypothesis). Our findings can help initiate a more holistic approach to ecological plant nutrition and lay the groundwork for the eventual development of multiple element biogeochemical models.

Leaf-Level Gas Exchange and Foliar Chemistry of Common Old-Field Species Responding to Warming and Precipitation Treatments

“…These results are in line with the observation that plant functional group differences and differences among plant genera within functional groups explained more variation in leaf nutrient contents than either climate factors or soil nutrient concentrations across China (He et al 2006;Han et al 2011). On ecosystem or biome scales, it is likely, therefore, that shifts in species composition in response to climate change will have greater effects on nutrient turnover and forage quality than phenotypic changes in leaf nutrient concentrations.…”

Invariant allometric scaling of nitrogen and phosphorus in leaves, stems, and fine roots of woody plants along an altitudinal gradient

“…The variables that did not contribute significantly (P < 0.05) to the explained variation were excluded from the GLM (Tables 3, 4). Secondly, the partial General Liner Models (partial GLM) were used to separate the trait variations into different components: (1) a, b and c-the independent effects of PGF, climate and soil, respectively; (2) ab, ac, and bc-the interactive effects between PGF and climate, between PGF and soil, and between climate and soil, respectively; (3) abc-the interactive effect among PGF, climate and soil; (4) Unexplained variations ( Table 2, for details of the statistics, see Han et al 2011;Heikkinen et al 2005;Zhao et al 2014). …”

Influence of &lt;i&gt;Bradyrhizobium japonicum&lt;/i&gt; and Phosphorus on Micronutrient Uptake in Cowpea. A Case Study of Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe), Copper (Cu) and Manganese (Mn)

“…Cowpea production is constrained by various factors including pest and diseases and unavailability of mineral elements which are important for plant growth and production [2][3][4]. Like all animals, sustainability of all plant lives depends on the16 essential mineral elements [5]. Mineral elements are classified into two groups (macro elements and micro elements) depending on their importance in the plant.…”