Premium
Leaf traits of two M editerranean perennial tussock grass species in relation to soil nitrogen and phosphorus availability
Author(s) -
Ghiloufi Wahida,
Chaieb Mohamed
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
african journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1365-2028
pISSN - 0141-6707
DOI - 10.1111/aje.12252
Subject(s) - perennial plant , tussock , ecosystem , mediterranean climate , biology , agronomy , phosphorus , specific leaf area , photosynthesis , botany , ecology , chemistry , organic chemistry
Studying relationships of plant traits to ecosystem properties is an emerging approach aiming to understand plant's potential effect on ecosystem functioning. In the current study, we explored links between morphological and nutritional leaf traits of two M editerranean perennial grass species S tipa tenacissima and L ygeum spartum , widely used to prevent desertification process by stabilizing sand dunes. We evaluated also relationships in terms of nitrogen ( N ) and phosphorus ( P ) availability between leaves of the investigated species and the corresponding soil. Our results showed that leaf P was very low in comparison with leaf N for the two investigated species. In fact, chlorophyll content, photosynthesis capacity and water conservation during photosynthesis are mainly linked to leaf nitrogen content. Our findings support previous studies showing that at the species levels, morphological and nutritional leaf traits were not related. On the other hand, significant relationships were obtained between soil N and leaf N for S . tenacissima ( P = 0.011) and L . spartum ( P = 0.033). However, leaf P was not significantly related to soil P availability for both species. We suggest that any decrease in soil N with the predicted increasing aridity may result in reduction in leaf N and thus in worst dysfunction of some biological processes levels.