Legume Shrubs Are More Nitrogen-Homeostatic than Non-legume Shrubs.

ABSTRACT: Legumes are characterized as keeping stable nutrient supply under nutrient-limited conditions. However, few studies examined the legumes' stoichiometric advantages over other plants across various taxa in natural ecosystems. We explored differences in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometry of different tissue types (leaf, stem, and root) between N₂-fixing legume shrubs and non-N₂-fixing shrubs from 299 broadleaved deciduous shrubland sites in northern China. After excluding effects of taxonomy and environmental variables, these two functional groups differed considerably in nutrient regulation. N concentrations and N:P ratios were higher in legume shrubs than in non-N₂-fixing shrubs. N concentrations were positively correlated between the plants and

SUBMITTER: Guo Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5622988 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature