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- Title
<sup>15</sup>N natural abundance during early and late succession in a middle-European dry acidic grassland.
- Authors
Beyschlag, W.; Hanisch, S.; Friedrich, S.; Jentsch, A.; Werner, C.
- Abstract
δ15N and total nitrogen content of above- and belowground tissues of 13 plant species from two successional stages (open pioneer community and ruderal grass stage) of a dry acidic grassland in Southern Germany were analysed, in order to evaluate whether resource use partitioning by niche separation and N input by N2-fixing legumes are potential determinants for species coexistence and successional changes. Within each stage, plants from plots with different legume cover were compared. Soil inorganic N content, total plant biomass and δ15N values of bulk plant material were significantly lower in the pioneer stage than in the ruderal grass community. The observed δ15N differences were rather species- than site-specific. Within both stages, there were also species-specific differences in isotopic composition between above- and belowground plant dry matter. Species-specific δ15N signatures may theoretically be explained by (i) isotopic fractionation during microbial-mediated soil N transformations; (ii) isotopic fractionation during plant N uptake or fractionation during plant–mycorrhiza transfer processes; (iii) differences in metabolic pathways and isotopic fractionation within the plant; or (iv) partitioning of available N resources (or pools) among plant groups or differential use of the same resources by different species, which seems to be the most probable route in the present case. A significant influence of N2-fixing legumes on the N balance of the surrounding plant community was not detectable. This was confirmed by the results of an independent in situ removal experiment, showing that after 3 years there were no measurable differences in the frequency distribution between plots with and without N2-fixing legumes.
- Subjects
GRASSLANDS; NITROGEN; PLANT species; BIOMASS; GRASSES
- Publication
Plant Biology, 2009, Vol 11, Issue 5, p713
- ISSN
1435-8603
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1438-8677.2008.00173.x