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- Title
Species-specific responses of foliar nutrients to long-term nitrogen and phosphorus additions in a lowland tropical forest.
- Authors
Mayor, Jordan R.; Wright, S. Joseph; Turner, Benjamin L.; Austin, Amy
- Abstract
The concentration, stoichiometry and resorption of nitrogen ( N) and phosphorus ( P) in plant leaves are often used as proxies of the availability of these growth-limiting nutrients, but the responses of these metrics to changes in nutrient availability remain largely untested for tropical forest trees., We evaluated changes in N and P concentrations, N/ P ratios and resorption for four common tree species after 13 years of factorial N and P additions in a lowland tropical forest in Panama., Chronic P addition increased foliar P concentrations, decreased P resorption proficiency and decreased N/ P ratios in three locally common eudicot tree species ( Alseis blackiana, Heisteria concinna, Tetragastris panamensis). The increase in foliar P involved similar proportional increases in organic and inorganic P in two species and a disproportionately large increase in inorganic P in A. blackiana., Nitrogen addition did not alter foliar N concentrations in any species, but did decrease N resorption proficiency in H. concinna., A fourth species, the palm Oenocarpus mapora, demonstrated remarkably static foliar nutrient concentrations, responding only with a marginal decrease in P resorption proficiency under N plus P co-addition., Synthesis. Collectively, these results suggest that adjustment of N/ P ratios can be expected in eudicots exposed to elevated P, but foliar N appears to already be at optimal levels in these lowland rain forest tree species. The complexity of species-specific responses to altered nutrient availability highlights the difficulty in predicting future responses of tropical forest trees to a changing world.
- Subjects
PLANT nutrients; COMPOSITION of leaves; FORESTS &; forestry; TREES; PLANT ecology
- Publication
Journal of Ecology, 2014, Vol 102, Issue 1, p36
- ISSN
0022-0477
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/1365-2745.12190