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Co‐limitation of photosynthetic capacity by nitrogen and phosphorus in West Africa woodlands
Author(s) -
DOMINGUES TOMAS FERREIRA,
MEIR PATRICK,
FELDPAUSCH TED R.,
SAIZ GUSTAVO,
VEENENDAAL ELMAR M.,
SCHRODT FRANZISKA,
BIRD MICHAEL,
DJAGBLETEY GLORIA,
HIEN FIDELE,
COMPAORE HALIDOU,
DIALLO ADAMA,
GRACE JOHN,
LLOYD JON
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2010.02119.x
Subject(s) - photosynthesis , nutrient , ecosystem , limiting , vegetation (pathology) , photosynthetic capacity , woodland , nitrogen , environmental science , biology , botany , agronomy , ecology , mathematics , chemistry , mechanical engineering , medicine , organic chemistry , pathology , engineering
Photosynthetic leaf traits were determined for savanna and forest ecosystems in West Africa, spanning a large range in precipitation. Standardized major axis fits revealed important differences between our data and reported global relationships. Especially for sites in the drier areas, plants showed higher photosynthetic rates for a given N or P when compared with relationships from the global data set. The best multiple regression for the pooled data set estimated V cmax and J max from N DW and S . However, the best regression for different vegetation types varied, suggesting that the scaling of photosynthesis with leaf traits changed with vegetation types. A new model is presented representing independent constraints by N and P on photosynthesis, which can be evaluated with or without interactions with S . It assumes that limitation of photosynthesis will result from the least abundant nutrient, thereby being less sensitive to the allocation of the non‐limiting nutrient to non‐photosynthetic pools. The model predicts an optimum proportionality for N and P, which is distinct for V cmax and J max and inversely proportional to S . Initial tests showed the model to predict V cmax and J max successfully for other tropical forests characterized by a range of different foliar N and P concentrations.