Biomass:N:K:Ca:Mg:P ratios in forest stands world‐wide: Biogeographical variations and environmental controls

Abstract

Aim: Community-level biomass-to-nutrient ratios and elemental stoichiometry of forests can provide insights for understanding the efficiency of nutrient use and the adaptation strategies of trees. However, the global-scale pattern of biomass:N:K:Ca:Mg:P ratios in forest stands and its responses to environmental drivers remain unknown.

Drought Eliminates the Difference in Root Trait Plasticity and Mycorrhizal Responsiveness of Two Semiarid Grassland Species with Contrasting Root System

“…The SRL was determined as the root length to root dry mass ratio [ 98 ]. The whole-plant biomass to N content (g dry mass g −1 N) and P content (g dry mass g −1 P) ratios were assessed as a proxy of N and P use efficiency, respectively [ 99 ].…”

Phosphorus Limitation of Trees Influences Forest Soil Fungal Diversity in China

“…Therefore, the correlation between leaf N/P and fungal Shannon index suggests that the soil fungal diversity was strongly affected by nutritional limitation [55,56]. Leaf N/P was positively significantly correlated with latitude, in contrast with the global pattern [38]. Although we collected leaves of only dominant trees, the variation in whole plant leaf N/P with latitude is moderate in China [57].…”

“…If the second hypothesis is the most realistic, fungal guilds (such as ectomycorrhizal, saprotrophic, and plant pathogenic fungi) should be correlated with soil fungal diversity [37]. Finally, if the third hypothesis is the most realistic, the forest soil fungal diversity should be correlated with leaf N/P, which could reflect the P limitation of plants, along with soil available nutrition (such as P and potassium (K)) or pH [38]. To test these three hypotheses and establish which is the most realistic one for China, leaf and soil samples were collected from 33 forest reserves across China.…”

Leaf nitrogen resorption is more important than litter nitrogen mineralization in mediating the diversity–productivity relationship along a nitrogen-limited temperate forest succession chronosequence

“…Nutrient limitation increases along a forest succession chronosequence, as a result of increasing nutrient immobilization in plant biomass (Luo et al, 2004;Finzi et al, 2006;Zhang et al, 2020). In contrast to nutrient mineralization, nutrient resorption by plants during leaf senescence increases as succession progresses and plant diversity increases, as it offers a lower risk of nutrient loss and a lower energetic cost (Aerts, 1996;Wang et al, 2014).…”

“…More importantly, N resorption efficiency (NRE) increases with forest succession, owing to progressive N limitation (Luo et al, 2004;Finzi et al, 2006;Johnson, 2006;Zhang et al, 2020). While such efficient resorption may have positive consequences for forest productivity, it could result in lower litter quality (Aerts, 1997;Lü et al, 2019).…”