Correlated biogeographic variation of magnesium across trophic levels in a terrestrial food chain

PLoS One. 2013 Nov 4;8(11):e78444. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0078444. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Using samples from eastern China (c. 25 - 41° N and 99 - 123° E) and from a common garden experiment, we investigate how Mg concentration varies with climate across multiple trophic levels. In soils, plant tissue (Oriental oak leaves and acorns), and a specialist acorn predator (the weevil Curculio davidi), Mg concentration increased significantly with different slopes from south to north, and generally decreased with both mean annual temperature (MAT) and precipitation (MAP). In addition, soil, leaf, acorn and weevil Mg showed different strengths of association and sensitivity with climatic factors, suggesting that distinct mechanisms may drive patterns of Mg variation at different trophic levels. Our findings provide a first step toward determining whether anticipated changes in temperature and precipitation due to climate change will have important consequences for the bioavailability and distribution of Mg in food chain.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cations, Divalent
  • China
  • Climate
  • Climate Change
  • Ecosystem
  • Food Chain*
  • Magnesium / analysis*
  • Plant Leaves / chemistry*
  • Quercus / chemistry*
  • Rain
  • Regression Analysis
  • Soil / chemistry*
  • Temperature
  • Weevils / chemistry*

Substances

  • Cations, Divalent
  • Soil
  • Magnesium

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 31070532, 30800138 and 30671674), and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (10JC1407000). A.D. Kay was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF-DEB 0842038). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.