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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (9): 50-62.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2021496

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Response of plant leaf ecological stoichiometric characteristics to long-term nitrogen addition in alpine meadow

Guo-hong YOU(), Dan LIU, Yan-li WANG, Chang-ting WANG()   

  1. Institute of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,Southwest Minzu University,Chengdu 610041,China
  • Received:2021-12-28 Revised:2022-03-09 Online:2022-09-20 Published:2022-08-12
  • Contact: Chang-ting WANG

Abstract:

Nitrogen (N) is critical to plant growth and anthropogenic N addition has been a main source of N input in many terrestrial ecosystems. As an important method for modifying soil nutrient status, N addition affects soil physicochemical properties which in turn affect leaf ecological stoichiometric characteristics. In order to study the effect of N addition on leaf ecological stoichiometric characteristics, we conducted an N fertilization experiment in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The N addition experiment was established in May 2012 with four treatments: 0 (CK), 10 (N10), 20 (N20), 30 (N30) g·m-2·yr-1. We collected leaves from grass, sedge, legume and forb in August, 2018, and we measured the leaf carbon (C), N and phosphorus (P) contents. Data from the four treatments were compared and differences in leaf carbon (LC), leaf nitrogen (LN), leaf phosphorus (LP) and their stoichiometric ratio among treatments were identified, and analyses were conducted to determine environmental factors influencing leaf ecological stoichiometric characteristics. It was found that: 1) N addition significantly increased the leaf carbon (LC) content of grass, but significantly decreased the LC content of legume, and LC content of sedge and forb was not significantly changed (P>0.05). The LN of the four plant functional groups increased markedly with increasing N addition (P<0.05), but the LP of the four plant functional groups varied inconsistently. 2) In general, the LC/N of the four plant functional groups decreased, while the LN/P and LC/P increased with increasing N addition. 3) Soil moisture content (SMC) was significantly (P<0.05) correlated with plant LC, LN, LP, LC/N, LN/P and LC/P in all cases, and SMC contributed mostly to the variance of the leaf ecological stoichiometry (10.28%, P<0.001). Compared with grass, sedge and legume, the responses of forb to SMC was relatively sensitive. The LN, LN/P and LC/P of forb decreased but the LC/N and LP of forb increased linearly with SMC. In summary, the responses of the four plant functional groups to N addition differed; SMC was the key factor influencing the change in leaf ecological stoichiometric characteristics of the four plant functional groups N addition.

Key words: nitrogen addition, ecological stoichiometry, alpine meadow, plant leaf, soil