Variation in the Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Composition of Plants and Soil along a Precipitation Gradient in Northern China

Ma, Jing; Sun, Wei; Liu, Xiaoning; Chen, Fahu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051894

Cited by 103 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…4a). This result is consistent with previously published data from other parts of the world Murphy and Bowman, 2009;Ma et al, 2012).…”

Section: The C 4 Pathwaysupporting

confidence: 94%

“…4b) with MAP. Depending upon the φ value, the relationship between δ 13 C values of C 4 plants and MAP can be positive Murphy and Bowman, 2009), zero (Swap et al, 2004) or negative (Ma et al, 2012). Using the equation for C 4 plants (Farquhar et al, 1989), positive correlation between δ 13 C values of C 4 plants and MAP in the middle and lower Gangetic Plain can be explained.…”

Section: The C 4 Pathwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Carbon isotopic ratios of modern C3–C4 plants from the Gangetic Plain, India and its implications to paleovegetational reconstruction

Basu

Agrawal

Sanyal

et al. 2015

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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“…4a). This result is consistent with previously published data from other parts of the world Murphy and Bowman, 2009;Ma et al, 2012).…”

Section: The C 4 Pathwaysupporting

confidence: 94%

Section: The C 4 Pathwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon isotopic ratios of modern C3–C4 plants from the Gangetic Plain, India and its implications to paleovegetational reconstruction

Basu

Agrawal

Sanyal

et al. 2015

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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“…; Ma et al . ). Plants from more arid climates also tend to have higher leaf N per unit area (Wright, Reich & Westoby ; Wright et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

A global analysis of water and nitrogen relationships between mistletoes and their hosts: broad‐scale tests of old and enduring hypotheses

Scalon

Wright

2015

Functional Ecology

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Summary 1.Mistletoes use far more water per unit carbon fixed during photosynthesis than their hosts (i.e. they have lower 'water use efficiency', WUE). The widely cited 'nitrogen-parasitism hypothesis' posits that N is the most limiting resource for mistletoes and that they use their faster transpiration rates to acquire sufficient N from the host xylem. In a rather different context, the 'mimicry hypothesis' arose in the literature suggesting that some mistletoes mimic the morphology of host leaves in order to deploy higher N leaves without suffering higher levels of herbivory. These two non-exclusive hypotheses share the common goal of trying to explain patterns of mistletoe leaf N concentration. 2. We set out to test the generality of both hypotheses at broad geographic scale using data for 168 mistletoes-host pairs, from 39 sites, encompassing all continents except Antarctica. We drew together data from published literature and our own field data on two key plant functional traits, leaf N concentration (N mass ) and leaf carbon isotopic composition (d 13 C) (representing long-term WUE and degree of stomatal control over photosynthesis).3. Key findings included (i) little or no support for the N-parasitism hypothesis: differences in mistletoe and host N mass explained only 3% variation in differences in leaf d 13 C, and mistletoe-host differences in leaf d 13C were unrelated to whether or not the hosts were N-fixers (presumed to have higher N concentration in xylem sap); (ii) partial support for the mimicry hypothesis: mimic mistletoes generally had higher N mass when associated with N-fixing hosts (but, on non-N-fixing hosts there was no such pattern); and (iii) more broadly, mistletoes showed similar trait responses as their hosts to environmental drivers; for example, they showed similar-magnitude shifts in N mass and d 13 C in relation to site aridity.4. Contrary to current belief, our findings suggest that nitrogen is not the limiting nutrient for mistletoes, at least not the main component driving the faster transpiration rates. Our results also give insight into the evolution of mimicry in mistletoes and show, for the first time, that mistletoes are also constrained by local water availability, exhibiting clear trait adaptations to environmental gradients. By reconsidering these issues at broad geographic scale and across a large number of species, our findings substantially modify current knowledge on the ecology and physiology of mistletoes and their hosts.

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“…, Ma et al. ). In addition, recent studies have shown that δ 15 N varies with mycorrhizal fungi composition and is an indicator of nitrogen cycling (Amundson et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does trait variation within broadly distributed species mirror patterns across species? A case study in Puerto Rico

Umaña

Swenson

2019

Ecology

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Although populations are phenotypically diverse, the majority of trait-based studies have focused on examining differences among species. The justification for this broadly applied approach is based on the assumption that differences among species are always greater than within species. This is likely true for local communities, but species are often broadly distributed across a wide range of environments and patterns of intraspecific variation might surpass differences among species. Therefore, an appropriate interpretation of the functional diversity requires an assessment of patterns of trait variation across different ecological scales. In this study, we examine and characterize patterns of leaf trait variation for species that are broadly distributed along an elevational gradient. We focus on seven leaf traits that represent a main axis of functional differentiation in plants reflecting the balance between photosynthetic efficiency, display, and stomatal conductance. We evaluated patterns of trait variance across ecological scales (elevation, species, populations, and individuals) and examined trait covariance at both within species and across species levels, along the elevation gradient. Our results show three key patterns: (1) intraspecific leaf trait variation for broadly distributed species is comparable to the interspecific trait variation, (2) the trait variance structure is highly variable across species, and (3) trait coordination between pairs of leaf traits is evident across species along the gradient, but not always within species. Combined, our results show that trait coordination and covariance are highly idiosyncratic across broadly distributed and co-occurring species, indicating that species may achieve similar functional roles even when exhibiting different phenotypes. This result challenges the traditional paradigm of functional ecology that assumes single trait values as optimal solutions for environments. In conclusion, patterns of trait variation both across and within species should be considered in future studies that assess trade-offs among traits over environmental gradients.

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Variation in the Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Composition of Plants and Soil along a Precipitation Gradient in Northern China

Cited by 103 publications

References 40 publications

Carbon isotopic ratios of modern C3–C4 plants from the Gangetic Plain, India and its implications to paleovegetational reconstruction

Carbon isotopic ratios of modern C3–C4 plants from the Gangetic Plain, India and its implications to paleovegetational reconstruction

A global analysis of water and nitrogen relationships between mistletoes and their hosts: broad‐scale tests of old and enduring hypotheses

Does trait variation within broadly distributed species mirror patterns across species? A case study in Puerto Rico

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