N:P stoichiometric changes via species turnover in arid versus saline desert environments.

ABSTRACT: Aridity and salinity have a key role in driving physiological and ecological processes in desert ecosystems. However, how community-scale foliar nutrients respond to aridity and salinity, and how these responses might vary with community composition along aridity and salinity gradients is unclear. We hypothesize that the response will be a shift in community stoichiometric values resulting from nutrient variability of shared species and unique species (site-specific species), but little research has addressed the relative contribution of either component.We analyzed the community-scale stoichiometric response of a desert community of perennial plants along an aridity and salinity transect by focusing on foliar nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) concentrations and N:P ratios. After evaluating

SUBMITTER: Gong YM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7381577 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature