Leaf nutrient resorption differs among canopy and understory plant species in subtropical Eucalyptus and Acacia plantations

Abstract

Although plants are known to conserve nutrients by resorbing them from senescing leaves, how resorption of foliar macro‐ and micronutrients is affected by plant growth form (e.g., trees, shrubs, and ferns) and forest age are not well understood. The current study was conducted in four subtropical monoculture plantations: Eucalyptus and Acacia plantations in 14 and 35 years old, respectively. Leaf resorption efficiencies (REs) and resorption proficiencies (RPs) of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and manganese (Mn) of the canopy trees and understory shrubs and ferns were determined. N, P, and K but not Ca and Mn were generally resorbed from senescing leaves. RE was significantly higher for P than N, indicating that P was more limiting than N in the subtropical plantations. Nutrient REs did not differ with plantation age, while nutrient RPs generally tended to be lower in the 14‐year‐old than in the 35‐year‐old plantations. REs significantly differed among canopy and understory plant species with different growth forms, that is, NRE, PRE, and KRE values were much higher in woody plants (especially the canopy tree species) than in ferns. REs were correlated with foliar nutrient concentrations but not with soil nutrient concentrations. Our findings suggest that resorption of nutrients from senescing leaves differs among canopy and understory plants, and implicate that introducing native tree species into these plantations could be implemented for accelerating the community succession and further improving the multifunctionality.

Nutrient resorption and stoichiometric characteristics of Wuyi rock tea cultivars

“…This nding seemed to be in accordance with earlier studies (Deng et al 2019;Wang et al 2022a). In addition, NRE was closely related to soil K for the RG, indicating that soil nutrients might be served as an indicator of nutrient resorption e ciencies in the soil and water conservation site.…”

“…Previous studies have found that the plants have higher nutrient resorption e ciencies in the fertile soil than in the unfertile soil (Drenovsky et al 2013;Xu et al 2020). In addition, the forest stands profoundly regulate the nutrient resorption (Chen and Chen 2021; Wang et al 2022a). Leaf and litter nutrients status also impact the plants nutrient resorption, but results vary among different studies (Hattenschwiler et al 2008 Age and population density may alter carbon and nutrient stock for the tea plantation (Kamau et al 2008), and environments also can affect nutrient cycling in tea plantation (Hu et al 2019).…”

“…In this study, we evaluated three Wuyi Rock tea cultivars (i.e., Wuyi Jingui, Wuyi Rougui, and Wuyi Shuixian) in the plantation which was designed for relieving soil erosion in the mountainous area of China. The primary objectives of this study were to analyze leaf nutrient resorption capacity of the three Wuyi Rock tea cultivars, and to help the management of soil conservation based on stochiometric characteristics of leaf nutrient resorption, especially in P-poor area (Reed et al 2012;Wang et al 2022a;Yan et al 2014). We tested the following three hypotheses: (1) tea cultivars would resorb more P and K than N as the study area was P impoverished; (2) leaf nutrition of tea cultivars had strong stability in response to environments of hilly areas; (3) leaf functional traits can be used as indicators for nutrient resorptions of Wuyi Rock tea cultivars due to closely relationship among them.…”

Foliar nutrient resorption stoichiometry and microbial phosphatase catalytic efficiency together alleviate the relative phosphorus limitation in forest ecosystems

“…At the global scale, N and P resorption increases as their availability in soil decrease (Yuan & Chen, 2015). However, at local scales, the relationship between P resorption and soil P availability is not consistent, with decreased, non‐responsive, or even increased P resorption as soil P availability increases (See et al ., 2015; Wang et al ., 2022; Zhang et al ., 2022). There is a general tradeoff between P resorption and organic P mineralization (Deng et al ., 2018), as high P resorption decreases P concentration in the litter and thus reduces the substrate quality for soil microbes.…”

Impacts of altitude on plant green leaf, fresh litter, and soil stoichiometry in subtropical forests

“…It helps to characterize nutrient allocation and strategies under environmental changes (Milla et al, 2005). Nutrient resorption refers to the uptake of nutrients from senesced leaves and nutrient allocation and utilization of those nutrients (Chen et al, 2021a;Wang et al, 2022). Previous studies have found that P and K resorption efficiencies are significantly higher than N resorption efficiency in the nutrient-poor soils of a tropical forest (Urbina et al, 2021).…”