Projects per year
Description
Phosphorus (P) is in low supply in soils around the nation, and limits plant production in the Australian landscape, as well as for many tropical forests worldwide. How scarce P restricts photosynthetic capacity has remained elusive. We will determine how Australian plants achieve high phosphorus-use efficiency despite low P concentrations in leaves and soils. We will synthesise knowledge of how plants maintain productivity with low P availability, and inform global models how to represent P biogeochemistry and photosynthesis to improve C-cycle estimates. The understanding of plant photosynthetic and P-saving mechanisms that emerge should provide benefits through improved ecological models and enhanced management of primary production.
Internal nutrient recycling such as leaf nutrient resorption serves as an important strategy for plants to optimize their growth and survival on nutrient-poor soils. Phosphorus resorption efficiency (PRE) varies widely (20-90%) among species living on P-poor soils. However, the key drivers behind this variation are poorly understood.
We hypothesized that two traits would drive variation in PRE among species at a site characterised by chronically low soil P (total soil P of 84 ppm): leaf lifespan (LL), and the proportion of leaf P in “labile” fractions. Labile P concentration, Plabile, is comprised of inorganic phosphates and soluble phosphorylated metabolites.
To test this hypothesis and gain a wider understanding of how leaf nutrient resorption varies, we quantified a set of related traits for 14 common woody species in a species-rich but nutrient-poor sclerophyll woodland community at Davies Park in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia. These traits were LL, Plabile, green and senesced leaf N and P concentrations, and N and P resorption efficiencies (NRE and PRE, respectively).
Supporting our hypothesis, LL explained > 50% variation in leaf PRE and > 40% variation in leaf NRE among species. Similarly, PRE was strongly and positively associated (> 60%) with allocation of green leaf P to Plabile. The LL-PRE relationship was mainly driven by lower senesced leaf P than green leaf P. The local variability in soil P availability explained 60% variation in green leaf P.
Overall, this study highlights the significance of leaf lifespan and labile leaf P fractions in driving species variation in leaf P resorption in a low-P soil. The combination of traits including high PRE, long LL and high allocation of leaf P to Plabile leads to greater internal recycling of P across P-poor but species-rich ecosystems.
Dataset content.
This dataset contains one text file (csv format) containing data for 33 parameters each measured from each of 14 species at the Davies Park site, Blue Mountains, NSW.
Internal nutrient recycling such as leaf nutrient resorption serves as an important strategy for plants to optimize their growth and survival on nutrient-poor soils. Phosphorus resorption efficiency (PRE) varies widely (20-90%) among species living on P-poor soils. However, the key drivers behind this variation are poorly understood.
We hypothesized that two traits would drive variation in PRE among species at a site characterised by chronically low soil P (total soil P of 84 ppm): leaf lifespan (LL), and the proportion of leaf P in “labile” fractions. Labile P concentration, Plabile, is comprised of inorganic phosphates and soluble phosphorylated metabolites.
To test this hypothesis and gain a wider understanding of how leaf nutrient resorption varies, we quantified a set of related traits for 14 common woody species in a species-rich but nutrient-poor sclerophyll woodland community at Davies Park in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia. These traits were LL, Plabile, green and senesced leaf N and P concentrations, and N and P resorption efficiencies (NRE and PRE, respectively).
Supporting our hypothesis, LL explained > 50% variation in leaf PRE and > 40% variation in leaf NRE among species. Similarly, PRE was strongly and positively associated (> 60%) with allocation of green leaf P to Plabile. The LL-PRE relationship was mainly driven by lower senesced leaf P than green leaf P. The local variability in soil P availability explained 60% variation in green leaf P.
Overall, this study highlights the significance of leaf lifespan and labile leaf P fractions in driving species variation in leaf P resorption in a low-P soil. The combination of traits including high PRE, long LL and high allocation of leaf P to Plabile leads to greater internal recycling of P across P-poor but species-rich ecosystems.
Dataset content.
This dataset contains one text file (csv format) containing data for 33 parameters each measured from each of 14 species at the Davies Park site, Blue Mountains, NSW.
Date made available | 11 Dec 2024 |
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Publisher | Western Sydney University |
Date of data production | 2021 - 2024 |
Projects
- 1 Active
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Feast or famine: how phosphorus enhances Australian plant productivity
Ellsworth, D. (PI)
1/01/21 → 30/06/25
Project: Research