Nitrogen and phosphorus availabilities interact to modulate leaf trait scaling relationships across six plant functional types in a controlled-environment study

Kristine Y. Crous, Odhran S. O’Sullivan, Joana Zaragoza‐Castells, Keith J. Bloomfield, A. Clarissa A. Negrini, Patrick Meir, Matthew H. Turnbull, Kevin L. Griffin, Owen K. Atkin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

55 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) have key roles in leaf metabolism, resulting in a strong coupling of chemical composition traits to metabolic rates in field-based studies. However, in such studies, it is difficult to disentangle the effects of nutrient supply per se on trait-trait relationships. Our study assessed how high and low N (5 mM and 0.4 mM, respectively) and P (1 mM and 2 μM, respectively) supply in 37 species from six plant functional types (PTFs) affected photosynthesis (A) and respiration (R) (in darkness and light) in a controlled environment. Low P supply increased scaling exponents (slopes) of area-based log-log A-N or R-N relationships when N supply was not limiting, whereas there was no P effect under low N supply. By contrast, scaling exponents of A-P and R-P relationships were altered by P and N supply. Neither R : A nor light inhibition of leaf R was affected by nutrient supply. Light inhibition was 26% across nutrient treatments; herbaceous species exhibited a lower degree of light inhibition than woody species. Because N and P supply modulates leaf trait-trait relationships, the next generation of terrestrial biosphere models may need to consider how limitations in N and P availability affect trait-trait relationships when predicting carbon exchange.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)992-1008
Number of pages17
JournalNew Phytologist
Volume215
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • nitrogen
  • phosphorus
  • photosynthesis
  • plant ecophysiology
  • plant nutrients

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