Foliar phosphorus allocation and photosynthesis reveal plants' adaptative strategies to phosphorus limitation in tropical forests at different successional stages

Qingshui Yu; Xiaofeng Ni; Xiaoli Cheng; Suhui Ma; Di Tian; Biao Zhu; Jiangling Zhu; Chengjun Ji; Zhiyao Tang; Jingyun Fang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157456

Foliar phosphorus allocation and photosynthesis reveal plants' adaptative strategies to phosphorus limitation in tropical forests at different successional stages

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Nov 10:846:157456. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157456. Epub 2022 Jul 19.

Authors

Qingshui Yu¹, Xiaofeng Ni¹, Xiaoli Cheng², Suhui Ma¹, Di Tian³, Biao Zhu¹, Jiangling Zhu¹, Chengjun Ji⁴, Zhiyao Tang¹, Jingyun Fang¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
² Key Laboratory of Soil Ecology and Health in Universities of Yunnan Province, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
³ Research Center of Forest Management Engineering of State Forestry and Grassland Administration, College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
⁴ Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Electronic address: jicj@pku.edu.cn.

PMID: 35863563
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157456

Abstract

High atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and low soil phosphorus (P) availability occur simultaneously in tropical areas, and thus tropical plants need to adapt nutrient-use strategies to maintain growth and survival. Therefore, identifying the adaptative strategies of tropical plants at different successional stages under low soil P availability is indispensable. Here, we separately investigated foliar traits, photosynthetic characteristics, and P fractions of 8 species in the primary and secondary tropical forests after 10 years of N and P fertilization. P addition increased foliar P concentrations and deceased N:P ratio in the primary forest and secondary forest. The foliar photosynthetic rates did not significantly respond to nutrient additions, and the foliar photosynthetic P-use efficiency (PPUE) reduced under the P addition in the primary forest. In contrast, the foliar photosynthetic rates and photosynthetic nitrogen (N)-use efficiency (PNUE) were enhanced with nutrient additions in the secondary forest. The allocations of foliar nucleic acid P and residual P were reduced by P addition in the primary forest, whereas the allocation of metabolic P was enhanced and the allocation of residual P was reduced by P addition in the secondary forest. Additionally, a higher proportion of structural P was found in the primary forest, and a higher proportion of metabolic P was observed in the secondary forest. Interesting, structural equation model analysis revealed that the plants decreased the allocation of foliar nucleic acid P and increased the allocation of structural P in the primary forest, thereby reducing photosynthetic rates. Whereas the plants enhanced photosynthetic rates by promoting PPUE and the allocation of foliar metabolic P in the secondary forest. Our findings highlighted tropical plants at different successional stages can reasonably allocate foliar P to regulate photosynthetic rates and acclimate to low P environments.

Keywords: Foliar phosphorus fraction; Foliar traits; Phosphorus limitation; Photosynthetic characteristics; Primary forest; Secondary forest.

MeSH terms

Forests
Nitrogen / analysis
Nucleic Acids* / analysis
Phosphorus* / analysis
Photosynthesis
Plant Leaves / chemistry
Soil / chemistry
Trees
Tropical Climate

Substances

Nucleic Acids
Soil
Phosphorus
Nitrogen