Nutrient availability increases photosynthetic capacity without altering the cost of resource use for photosynthesis.

ABSTRACT: Eco-evolutionary optimality (EEO) theory predicts that plants maximize resource investment in photosynthetic capacity at the lowest costs of acquiring and using such resources. However, current EEO-based models predict photosynthetic capacity based on climate alone, and omit costs for resource acquisition. To explore the link between leaf-level optimality and plant-level nitrogen acquisition costs across different soil environments, we grew two commonly co-occurring species in a greenhouse under three nutrient fertilization levels in sand and two natural soils with matching nutrient availability to the fertilization levels in sand. At the end of the experiment, we measured the maximum rate of Rubisco carboxylation (V _cmax), δ¹³C-derived leaf-to-air CO₂ partial

SUBMITTER: Lankhorst JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12700163 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature