Seasonal environmental variation and plant phenology in arid Patagonia (Argentina)

Bertiller, Mónica B.; Beeskow, Ana María; Coronato, Fernando Raúl

doi:10.1016/s0140-1963(18)30722-5

Cited by 144 publications

(152 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…This finding is in line with observations that N concentration in green leaves between perennial grasses and evergreen shrubs is greater in wetter year (Carrera et al, 2003). Soil-N availability has been shown to be increased during wet years (Mazzarino et al, 1998), resulting in fast growth of perennial grasses to capture N from soil (Bertiller et al, 1991;Sala et al, 1989). In contrast, our results showed that N resorption for S. krylovii was not correlated to soil water moisture ( Figure 5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil characteristics and nitrogen resorption in Stipa krylovii native to northern China

Yuan

Han

et al. 2005

Plant Soil

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Nitrogen (N) resorption from senescing tissues enables plants to conserve and reuse this important nutrient. As such, it is expected that plant species adapted to infertile soils could have a higher N-resorption efficiency (percentage reduction of nitrogen between green and senescing tissues) and/or higher N-resorption proficiency (absolute reduction of nitrogen in senescing tissues) than those adapted to fertile soils. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the relationships among soil characteristics (total N, nitrate-N, ammonium-N, pH and moisture) and N resorption in Stipa krylovii Roshev., a species occurred widely in natural grasslands of northern China. N contents in green and senescing tissues were 6.7 ± 0.1 and 3.3 ± 0.1 mg g )1 , respectively. The mean value of N-resorption efficiency was found to be 72.1%. The N-resorption efficiency in S. krylovii was independent of soil characteristics. The N-resorption proficiency in S. krylovii was dependent on soil nitrate-and ammonium-N, but it was relatively independent of soil total N. The N-resorption proficiency was negatively correlated with soil pH and moisture. There was a positive correlation between N concentration in green tissues and resorption efficiency. However, N-resorption efficiency was not correlated significantly with N concentration in senescing tissues. These results indicate that the intraspecific variation in N resorption of Stipa krylovii Roshev. is associated with soil regimes and that higher N resorption on N-poor soils is an adaptive strategy for S. krylovii to maximize N use under conditions of limited N supply.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil characteristics and nitrogen resorption in Stipa krylovii native to northern China

Yuan

Han

et al. 2005

Plant Soil

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“…Carrera et al (2003) also found that differences in N concentration in green leaves between perennial grasses and evergreen shrubs increased in the wettest year. This might result in fast growth of perennial grasses for capture of N from soil (Bertiller et al 1991;Sala et al 1989). In other species with low nutrient resorption, it has been reported that N resorption was reduced with decreasing water availability (del Arco et al 1991;Pugnaire and Chapin 1992).…”

Section: Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen response efficiency increased monotonically with decreasing soil resource availability: a case study from a semiarid grassland in northern China

et al. 2006

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The concept of nutrient use efficiency is central to understanding ecosystem functioning because it is the step in which plants can influence the return of nutrients to the soil pool and the quality of the litter. Theory suggests that nutrient efficiency increases unimodally with declining soil resources, but this has not been tested empirically for N and water in grassland ecosystems, where plant growth in these ecosystems is generally thought to be limited by soil N and moisture. In this paper, we tested the N uptake and the N use efficiency (NUE) of two Stipa species (S. grandis and S. krylovii) from 20 sites in the Inner Mongolia grassland by measuring the N content of net primary productivity (NPP). NUE is defined as the total net primary production per unit N absorbed. We further distinguished NUE from N response efficiency (NRE; production per unit N available). We found that NPP increased with soil N and water availability. Efficiency of whole-plant N use, uptake, and response increased monotonically with decreasing soil N and water, being higher on infertile (dry) habitats than on fertile (wet) habitats. We further considered NUE as the product of the N productivity (NP the rate of biomass increase per unit N in the plant) and the mean residence time (MRT; the ratio between the average N pool and the annual N uptake or loss). The NP and NUE of S. grandis growing usually in dry and N-poor habitats exceeded those of S. krylovii abundant in wet and N-rich habitats. NUE differed among sites, and was often affected by the evolutionary trade-off between NP and MRT, where plants and communities had adapted in a way to maximize either NP or MRT, but not both concurrently. Soil N availability and moisture influenced the community-level N uptake efficiency and ultimately the NRE, though the response to N was dependent on the plant community examined. These results show that soil N and water had exerted a great impact on the N efficiency in Stipa species. The intraspecific differences in N efficiency within both Stipa species along soil resource availability gradient may explain the differences in plant productivity on various soils, which will be conducive to our general understanding of the N cycling and vegetation dynamics in northern Chinese grasslands.

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“…Since phenology is not synchronic among species (Bertiller et al 1991;Puntieri et al 1998), we collected expanded green leaves and senesced leaves of each life form or species at diVerent months in two consecutive years. At the time of collection of green leaves, the percentage of senesced leaves of perennial grasses and shrubs with respect to total leaves varied between 29 and 64% in perennial grasses and between 2 and 66% in shrubs (no data are available for trees).…”

Section: Leaf Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaf strategies and soil N across a regional humidity gradient in Patagonia

et al. 2006

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We analyzed leaf traits related to carbon-fixation, nutrient conservation strategies, and decomposability and their relationships with potential N-mineralization and microbial N in soil in 19 species of 5 dominant life forms growing in 40 sites across a regional humidity gradient in northern Patagonia. We hypothesized that (1) the shifting of species and life forms across the humidity gradient is related to a shifting in traits of green and senesced leaves with some overlapping among life forms, and (2) leaf traits associated with litter decomposition are related to the potential dynamics of soil-N across the humidity gradient. LMA in green leaves and P-resorption efficiency decreased with humidity while concentrations of lignin and total phenolics in green and senesced leaves and P concentration in senesced leaves increased with humidity. Soil C and N concentrations were positively correlated to humidity. Increasing soil N concentration was related to increasing rates of absolute (per unit soil mass) potential net N-mineralization and microbial-N flush. Relative (per unit N mass) potential net N-mineralization and microbial-N flush decreased with soil N and were inversely correlated to lignin concentration and C/N ratio in senesced leaves. We found overlapping in N concentration and C/N ratio in green and senesced leaves, P concentration in green leaves, and N resorption among species and life forms across the humidity gradient. We concluded that (1) leaf traits related to carbon fixation and the decomposition pathway significantly varied with humidity and were not overlapped between plant life forms from dry and humid habitats, (2) the largest overlapping among species and plant life forms across the gradient occurred in those leaf traits related to N conservation in the plant, and (3) life forms from humid habitats produce more recalcitrant litter that induce lower rates of relative potential net N mineralization (per unit N) than those of dry habitats.

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Seasonal environmental variation and plant phenology in arid Patagonia (Argentina)

Cited by 144 publications

References 11 publications

Soil characteristics and nitrogen resorption in Stipa krylovii native to northern China

Soil characteristics and nitrogen resorption in Stipa krylovii native to northern China

Nitrogen response efficiency increased monotonically with decreasing soil resource availability: a case study from a semiarid grassland in northern China

Leaf strategies and soil N across a regional humidity gradient in Patagonia

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