Relationships between functional traits and inorganic nitrogen acquisition among eight contrasting European grass species

Grassein, Fabrice; Lemauviel‐Lavenant, Servane; Lavorel, Sandra; Bahn, Michael; Bardgett, Richard D.; Desclos-Theveniau, Marie; Laîné, Philippe

doi:10.1093/aob/mcu233

Cited by 72 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…The proportion of herbs in our plant communities increased plant 15 N uptake, while a higher CWM SLA indirectly increased microbial 15 N uptake, and a higher CWM RTD decreased plant 15 N uptake. These results confirm the central role of roots in ecosystem N retention (De Vries et al ., 2012a), and corroborate findings that plants with exploitative growth strategies have the highest rates of N uptake (Grassein et al ., 2015). However, they contradict the notion (De Vries & Bardgett, 2012), and field observations (Laughlin, 2011; De Vries et al ., 2012a; Grigulis et al ., 2013), that plant communities dominated by slow‐growing, resource‐conservative species and their associated microbial communities have the greatest N retention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These findings are in line with the findings by Grassein et al . (2015), who found that the uptake and affinity for N of individual grasses increased with exploitative leaf traits. Importantly, although herbs differed from grasses in most traits and thus affected CWM values of these traits in our mixtures, they did not differ in SLA and RTD, which were the traits that best explained plant and microbial 15 N uptake in our SEMs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This might be a result of the discrepancy between above‐ground and below‐ground community composition rather than root traits actually being worse predictors for these pools, as several studies have found that root traits have a stronger control on ecosystem N dynamics and retention than above‐ground functional traits, which were the focus of our study (Grigulis et al ., 2013; Bardgett et al ., 2014; but see Grassein et al ., 2015). The correlations we found between leaf and root traits support previous work (Craine et al ., 2005; Tjoelker et al ., 2005; Roumet et al ., 2006; Freschet et al ., 2010); however, they do not support the existence of a root economics spectrum, as above‐ground exploitative traits correlated strongly with below‐ground traits considered to be conservative.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant community controls on short‐term ecosystem nitrogen retention

2016

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Summary Retention of nitrogen (N) is a critical ecosystem function, especially in the face of widespread anthropogenic N enrichment; however, our understanding of the mechanisms involved is limited. Here, we tested under glasshouse conditions how plant community attributes, including variations in the dominance, diversity and range of plant functional traits, influence N uptake and retention in temperate grassland.We added a pulse of 15N to grassland plant communities assembled to represent a range of community‐weighted mean plant traits, trait functional diversity and divergence, and species richness, and measured plant and microbial uptake of 15N, and leaching losses of 15N, as a short‐term test of N retention in the plant–soil system.Root biomass, herb abundance and dominant plant traits were the main determinants of N retention in the plant–soil system: greater root biomass and herb abundance, and lower root tissue density, increased plant 15N uptake, while higher specific leaf area and root tissue density increased microbial 15N uptake.Our results provide novel, mechanistic insight into the short‐term fate of N in the plant–soil system, and show that dominant plant traits, rather than trait functional diversity, control the fate of added N in the plant–soil system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant community controls on short‐term ecosystem nitrogen retention

2016

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“…In the length group, intermediate values of specific leaf area, specific root length, root tissue density and N concentration were observed. Based on the findings of Grassein et al (2015), species from this group would thus be expected to be more acquisitive or less conservative than the species from the biomass group. In comparison to the biomass group, the length group showed lower C/N ratio and higher P concentration that are more favorable to mineralization.…”

Section: Influence Of Plant Traits On Nutrient Uptakementioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of root and leaf traits on the uptake of nutrients in cover crops

et al. 2016

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Aims Cover crops play an important role in soil fertility as they can accumulate large amounts of nutrients. This study aimed at understanding the nutrient uptake capacity of a wide range of cover crops and at assessing the relevance of acquisition strategies. Methods A field experiment was conducted to characterize 20 species in terms of leaf and root traits. Plant traits were related to nutrient concentration and shoot biomass production with a redundancy analysis. Acquisition strategies were identified using a cluster analysis. Results Root systems varied greatly among cover crop species. Five nutrient acquisition strategies were delineated. Significant amounts of nutrients (about 120 kg ha −1 of nitrogen, 30 kg ha −1 of phosphorus and 190 kg ha −1 of potassium) were accumulated by the species in a short period. Nutrient acquisition strategies related to high accumulations of nutrients consisted in either high shoot biomass and root mass and dense tissues, or high nutrient concentrations and root length densities. Species with high root length densities showed lower C/N ratios.Conclusions The same amounts of nutrients were accumulated by groups with different acquisition strategies. However, their nutrient concentrations offer different perspectives in terms of nutrient release for the subsequent crop and nutrient cycling improvement.

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“…These approaches generally use the leaf economics spectrum (Wright et al 2004), where exploitative leaf traits that maximise photosynthesis, such as high specific leaf area and leaf nitrogen content, maximize plant growth and nutrient uptake, and accelerate rates of soil nutrient and carbon cycling (e.g. Fortunel et al 2009;Garnier et al 2004;Grassein et al 2015;Laughlin 2011;Orwin et al 2010). Recently, ecologists have shifted their focus from aboveground plant functional traits to belowground traits for explaining soil and ecosystem processes .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grassland species root response to drought: consequences for soil carbon and nitrogen availability

2016

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Background and Aims Root traits are increasingly used to predict how plants modify soil processes. Here, we assessed how drought-induced changes in root systems of four common grassland species affected C and N availability in soil. We hypothesized that drought would promote resource-conservative root traits such as high root tissue density (RTD) and low specific root length (SRL), and that these changes would result in higher soil N availability through decreased root N uptake, but lower C availability through reduced root exudation. Methods We subjected individual plants to drought under controlled conditions, and compared the response of their root biomass, root traits, and soil C and N availability, to control individuals. Results Drought affected most root traits through reducing root biomass. Only SRL and RTD displayed plasticity; drought reduced SRL, and increased RTD in small plants but decreased RTD in larger plants.Reduced root biomass and a shift towards more resource-conservative root traits increased soil inorganic N availability but did not directly affect soil C availability. Conclusions These findings identify mechanisms through which drought-induced changes in root systems affect soil C and N availability, and contribute to our understanding of how root traits modify soil processes in a changing world.

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Relationships between functional traits and inorganic nitrogen acquisition among eight contrasting European grass species

Cited by 72 publications

References 71 publications

Plant community controls on short‐term ecosystem nitrogen retention

Plant community controls on short‐term ecosystem nitrogen retention

Influence of root and leaf traits on the uptake of nutrients in cover crops

Grassland species root response to drought: consequences for soil carbon and nitrogen availability

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