Plant and soil nutrient stoichiometry along primary ecological successions: Is there any link?
Date
2017-08-07
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PLOS
Abstract
Ecological stoichiometry suggests that plant Nitrogen (N)-to-Phosphorus (P) ratios respond
to changes in both soil N:P stoichiometry and soil N and P availability. Thus we would expect
that soil and plant N:P ratios be significantly related along natural gradients of soil development
such as those associated with primary ecological successions. Here we explicitly
search for linkages between plant and soil N:P stoichiometry along four primary successions
distributed across Europe. We measured N and P content in soils and plant compartments
(leaf, stem and root) of 72 wild plant species distributed along two sand dune and two glacier
successions where soil age ranges from few to thousand years old. Overall we found that
soil N:P ratios strongly increased along successional stages, however, plant N:P ratios were
neither related to soil N:P stoichiometry nor to changes in soil N and P availability. Instead
changes in plant nutrient stoichiometry were ªdrivenº by plant-functional-group identity. Not
only N:P ratios differed between legumes, grasses and forbs but each of these plant functional
groups maintained N:P ratios relatively constant across pioneer, middle and advanced
successional stages. Our evidence is that soil nutrient stoichiometry may not be a good predictor
of changes in plant N:P stoichiometry along natural primary ecological successions,
which have not reached yet a retrogressive stage. This could be because wild-plants rely
on mechanisms of internal nutrient regulation, which make them less dependent to changes
in soil nutrient availability under unpredictable environmental conditions. Further studies
need to clarify what underlying evolutionary and eco-physiological mechanisms determine
changes in nutrient stoichiometry in plant species distributed across natural environmental
gradients.
Description
Publication history: Accepted - 20 July 2017; Published - 7 August 2017.
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Citation
Di Palo, F. and Fornara, D. A. (2017) ‘Plant and soil nutrient stoichiometry along primary ecological successions: Is there any link?’, PLOS ONE. Edited by A. Valentine, 12(8), p. e0182569. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182569.