Intraspecific N and P stoichiometry of Phragmites australis: geographic patterns and variation among climatic regions

Abstract

Geographic patterns in leaf stoichiometry reflect plant adaptations to environments. Leaf stoichiometry variations along environmental gradients have been extensively studied among terrestrial plants, but little has been known about intraspecific leaf stoichiometry, especially for wetland plants. Here we analyzed the dataset of leaf N and P of a cosmopolitan wetland species, Phragmites australis, and environmental (geographic, climate and soil) variables from literature and field investigation in natural wetlands distributed in three climatic regions (subtropical, temperate and highland) across China. We found no clear geographic patterns in leaf nutrients of P. australis across China, except for leaf N:P ratio increasing with altitude. Leaf N and N:P decreased with mean annual temperature (MAT), and leaf N and P were closely related to soil pH, C:N ratio and available P. Redundancy analysis showed that climate and soil variables explained 62.1% of total variation in leaf N, P and N:P. Furthermore, leaf N in temperate region and leaf P in subtropical region increased with soil available P, while leaf N:P in subtropical region decreased with soil pH. These patterns in P. australis different from terrestrial plants might imply that changes in climate and soil properties can exert divergent effects on wetland and terrestrial ecosystems.

Biogeographic Patterns of Leaf Element Stoichiometry of Stellera chamaejasme L. in Degraded Grasslands on Inner Mongolia Plateau and Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

“…However, sample collection is commonly limited to a few individuals, a few populations, and averaged at the population or species level, disregarding the intraspecific variability [ 31 ]. Investigating the geographic variation within species can help uncover the mechanisms of relationships between plant tissue nutrients and environments [ 32 ] by excluding the confounding effects of taxonomic and phylogenetic structure such as those that have been found to influence the geographic patterns in leaf nutrients, and their linkages to climate and soil. Since relationships between environment and plant traits along environmental gradients could be presented as evidence of environmental control over species distribution, examining plant-environment (e.g., climate and soil nutrient availability) interactions may provide some insights into the underlying mechanisms of S. chamaejasme distribution in degraded grasslands.…”

Global patterns in leaf stoichiometry across coastal wetlands

“…To date, the global leaf stoichiometry of coastal wetlands is still unclear (Lovelock et al., 2007). The recent research on inland and coastal wetlands has provided inconsistent results (Hu et al., 2017, 2018; Lovelock et al., 2007; Xia et al., 2014). For example, the leaf N content and N:P ratio in aquatic macrophytes decreased significantly with increasing latitude, whereas leaf P content increased with increasing latitude in inland wetlands of eastern China (Xia et al., 2014).…”

Effect of Environmental Stress on the Nutrient Stoichiometry of the Clonal Plant Phragmites australis in Inland Riparian Wetlands of Northwest China

“…Moreover, only a few studies have provided results showing significant differences in responses at different spatiotemporal scales. It has been shown that the leaf N concentrations and N:P of clonal plants decrease with increasing mean annual temperature ( Hu et al, 2017 ), and it was also found that leaf N and P increased significantly with increasing mean annual temperature ( Ying et al, 2015 ). Therefore, the study of the stoichiometric characteristics of individual modules of clonal plants can provide empirical results regarding resource acquisition and allocation trade-offs in response to heterogeneous conditions.…”