Simulated climate change decreases nutrient resorption from senescing leaves

Abstract

Nutrient resorption is the process whereby plants recover nutrients from senescing leaves and reallocate them to storage structures or newer tissues. Elemental resorption of foliar N and P has been shown to respond to temperature and precipitation, but we know remarkably little about the influence of warming and drought on the resorption of these and other essential plant macro‐ and micronutrients, which could alter the ability of species to recycle their nutrients. We conducted a 5 year manipulative field study to simulate predicted climate change conditions and studied the effects of warming (W), rainfall reduction (RR), and their combination (W+RR) on nutrient resorption efficiency in five coexisting shrub species in a semiarid shrubland. Both mature and senesced leaves showed significant reductions in their nutrient contents and an altered stoichiometry in response to climate change conditions. Warming (W, W+RR) reduced mature leaf N, K, Ca, S, Fe, and Zn and senesced leaf N, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, and Zn contents relative to ambient temperature conditions. Warming increased mature leaf C/N ratios and decreased N/P and C/P ratios and increased senesced leaf C/N and C/P ratios. Furthermore, W and W+RR reduced nutrient resorption efficiencies for N (6.3%), K (19.8%), S (70.9%) and increased Ca and Fe accumulation in senesced leaves (440% and 35.7%, respectively) relative to the control treatment. Rainfall reduction decreased the resorption efficiencies of N (6.7%), S (51%), and Zn (46%). Reductions in nutrient resorption efficiencies with warming and/or rainfall reduction were rather uniform and consistent across species. The negative impacts of warming and rainfall reduction on foliar nutrient resorption efficiency will likely cause an impairment of plant nutrient budgets and fitness across coexisting native shrubs in this nutrient‐poor habitat, with probable implications for key ecosystem functions such as reductions in nutrient retention in vegetation, litter decomposition, and nutrient cycling rates.

Nutrient Resorption Strategies of Three Oak Tree Species in Response to Interannual Climate Variability

“…This aligned well with a study by Bahamonde et al (2019), who found that the NuRE did not vary between Nothofagus pumilio and N. Antarctica at the sites they investigated. Similar results were reported from a ve year manipulative eld study by Prieto and Querejeta (2020), and demonstrated by Lü et al (2013), who found that with N inputs, plants exhibited a convergent response in the resportion of N and P. These results indicated that plants growing under the same conditions, or occupying the same niche, may experience analogous limitations for nutrient absorption and conservation processes (Bahamonde et al 2019). Thus, our ndings may have important implications for the study of localized plant adaptationsand evolution.…”

“…Based on the predicted changes in local temperature and precipitation (0.9 o C higher annual mean temperature and 6.4 mm lower total precipitation, see Zhao et al (2012)), the resorption e ciency of C, N, and P will likely, to some extent, decrease over the next twenty years (Table S6), as demonstrated by Prieto and Querejeta (2020). This decrease likely reduced nutrient demands and plant growth and may have some in uence on litter quality and decomposition (Prescott 2010;Prieto et al 2019).…”

Vertical decoupling of soil nutrients and water under climate warming reduces plant cumulative nutrient uptake, water‐use efficiency and productivity

“…Conceptual model of the long‐term impacts of climate warming‐induced topsoil desiccation on plant nutrient status, gas exchange, growth and survival. Superscripts denote observed effects of warming and/or rainfall reduction in Prieto & Querejeta (2020) 1 , Prieto et al . (2019) 2 and León‐Sánchez et al .…”

Variations in Rainfall Affect the Responses of Foliar Chemical Properties of Cunninghamia lanceolata Seedlings to Soil Warming

“…In addition to C, N, and P, recent studies have taken into account additional mineral elements, such as potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg), which would improve our understanding of how warming affects basic biological functions such as growth, stress responses, and defense mechanisms (Prieto and Querejeta, 2020;Gao et al, 2021;Sardans et al, 2021). For example, it was reported that warming increased Ca concentration in Erica multiflora and Lotus dorycnium by 42 and 38%, respectively, which helped to improve the water-use efficiency of plants (Sardans et al, 2008b).…”