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Leaf nitrogen from first principles: field evidence for adaptive variation with climate
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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bg-14-481-2017.pdf | Published version | 790.06 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
Title: | Leaf nitrogen from first principles: field evidence for adaptive variation with climate |
Authors: | Dong, N Prentice, IC Evans, BJ Caddy-Retalic, S Lowe, AJ Wright, IJ |
Item Type: | Journal Article |
Abstract: | Nitrogen content per unit leaf area (Narea) is a key variable in plant functional ecology and biogeochemistry. Narea comprises a structural component, which scales with leaf mass per area (LMA), and a metabolic component, which scales with Rubisco capacity. The co-ordination hypothesis, as implemented in LPJ and related global vegetation models, predicts that Rubisco capacity should be directly proportional to irradiance but should decrease with increases in ci : ca and temperature because the amount of Rubisco required to achieve a given assimilation rate declines with increases in both. We tested these predictions using LMA, leaf δ13C, and leaf N measurements on complete species assemblages sampled at sites on a north–south transect from tropical to temperate Australia. Partial effects of mean canopy irradiance, mean annual temperature, and ci : ca (from δ13C) on Narea were all significant and their directions and magnitudes were in line with predictions. Over 80 % of the variance in community-mean (ln) Narea was accounted for by these predictors plus LMA. Moreover, Narea could be decomposed into two components, one proportional to LMA (slightly steeper in N-fixers), and the other to Rubisco capacity as predicted by the co-ordination hypothesis. Trait gradient analysis revealed ci : ca to be perfectly plastic, while species turnover contributed about half the variation in LMA and Narea. |
Issue Date: | 30-Jan-2017 |
Date of Acceptance: | 25-Nov-2016 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/45317 |
DOI: | https://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-481-2017 |
ISSN: | 1726-4189 |
Publisher: | European Geosciences Union (EGU) |
Start Page: | 481 |
End Page: | 495 |
Journal / Book Title: | Biogeosciences |
Volume: | 14 |
Issue: | 2 |
Copyright Statement: | © 2017 Author(s). This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). |
Sponsor/Funder: | AXA Research Fund |
Funder's Grant Number: | AXA Chair Programme in Biosphere and Climate Impacts |
Keywords: | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Physical Sciences Ecology Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Environmental Sciences & Ecology Geology USE EFFICIENCY PHOTOSYNTHETIC CAPACITY TRAIT RELATIONSHIPS ECONOMICS SPECTRUM CARBON-DIOXIDE CELL-WALLS LIFE-SPAN MODEL PLANTS WATER Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences 04 Earth Sciences 05 Environmental Sciences 06 Biological Sciences |
Publication Status: | Published |
Open Access location: | http://www.biogeosciences.net/14/481/2017/ |
Appears in Collections: | Department of Life Sciences Grantham Institute for Climate Change |