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Plantations modified leaf elemental stoichiometry compared to the native shrub community in karst areas, Southwest of China

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Abstract

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Nutrient limitation changed from N–P co-limitation in the native shrubs to N limitation in the plantations.

Abstract

Element stoichiometry is a powerful tool to examine plant–soil nutrient feedbacks. In karst ecosystems, southwest China, afforestation has been widely adopted to restore soil fertility and enhance ecosystem functioning under degraded native shrub stands. However, it is unclear whether and how multiple-element stoichiometry of plants in afforested forests would differ from the native shrub community. We investigated the concentrations of C, N, S, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Al, Cu, Zn, and Mn in leaves and soils in native shrub community and three plantations (Pinus yunnanensis, Alnus japonica, and Platycladus orientalis). We found (1) There was significant discrimination in leaf elemental compositions between native shrub community and plantations in the karst region, southwest China. Native shrubs had lower leaf N, P, S and higher C, Ca, and Mg concentrations, as well as C:P and N:P ratios, compared to plantations; (2) For different plant species, grasses had higher P, K, and Na and lower C:P and N:K, compared to trees and shrubs; (3) N:P, K and S concentrations differed most between the native shrubs and plantations; (4) N:P in native shrubs was close to 12 while decreased to 11.3, 10.2 and 9.7 in three plantations. These results suggest that plantations strongly changed the elemental stoichiometry of native shrub communities in the karst region. N:P, Ca:Mg, K and S are key indicators for plant nutrient status in the study area. P limitation alleviates in plantations compared to native shrubs. Our study could be used to guide reforestation and improve ecosystem functioning in the karst region, Southwest China.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0505501).

Funding

This work was funded by National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0505501).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Jiahao Wen, Baoming Du, Ningxiao Sun, Muhammad Umair & Chunjiang Liu

  2. Department of Watershed Sciences and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Jiahao Wen

  3. State Forestry and Grassland Administration, Shanghai Urban Forest Ecosystem Research Station, Shanghai, China

    Jiahao Wen, Baoming Du, Ningxiao Sun, Muhammad Umair & Chunjiang Liu

  4. The Logistics Support, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China

    Huimin Tao

  5. Department of Biological Sciences, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Dafeng Hui

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  1. Jiahao Wen
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Correspondence to Chunjiang Liu.

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Communicated by Lee Kalcsits.

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Wen, J., Tao, H., Du, B. et al. Plantations modified leaf elemental stoichiometry compared to the native shrub community in karst areas, Southwest of China. Trees 35, 987–999 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-021-02096-w

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