Nitrogen (N) is an essential resource that plays a key role in plant metabolism through enzyme activities and plant growth. Plant productivity is largely limited by N availability in many terrestrial ecosystems (Du et al., 2020). To mitigate this limitation, plant individuals can use N storage, internal N recycling and N exchanges with the environment. These uses define the plant's N economy, mirroring market economy theory (Bloom et al., 1985). Plants respond to fluctuations in resource acquisition and utilisation to optimise their fitness, that is, their reproduction, growth and survival performance (Semenova