Journal
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 7, Issue 17, Pages 6927-6934Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3245
Keywords
biomass allocation; climatic gradient; nutrient availability; plant chemistry; transect
Categories
Funding
- National Basic Research Program of China [2016YFC0500707, 2016YFC0500700]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41371251, 41600302]
- European Research Council Synergy [ERC-SyG-2013-610028]
- Spanish Government [CGL2013-48074-P]
- Catalan Government [SGR 2014-274]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
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Plant carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stoichiometry play an important role in the maintenance of ecosystem structure and function. To decipher the influence of changing environment on plant C and N stoichiometry at the subcontinental scale, we studied the shoot and root C and N stoichiometry in two widely distributed and dominant genera along a 2,200-km climatic gradient in China's grasslands. Relationships between C and N concentrations and soil climatic variables factors were studied. In contrast to previous theory, plant C concentration and C:N ratios in both shoots and roots increased with increasing soil fertility and decreased with increasing aridity. Relative N allocation shifted from soils to plants and from roots to shoots with increasing aridity. Changes in the C:N ratio were associated with changes in N concentration. Dynamics of plant C concentration and C:N ratios were mainly caused by biomass reallocation and a nutrient dilution effect in the plant-soil system. Our results suggest that the shifted allocation of C and N to different ecosystem compartments under a changing environment may change the overall use of these elements by the plant-soil system.
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