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The role of nutrients, productivity and climate in determining tree fruit production in European forests
Author(s) -
FernándezMartínez Marcos,
Vicca Sara,
Janssens Ivan A.,
Espelta Josep Maria,
Peñuelas Josep
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/nph.14193
Subject(s) - primary production , pinaceae , nutrient , ecosystem , environmental science , evergreen , phosphorus , fagaceae , productivity , agronomy , biology , ecology , botany , chemistry , pinus <genus> , organic chemistry , macroeconomics , economics
Summary Fruit production ( NPP f ), the amount of photosynthates allocated to reproduction (% GPP f ) and their controls for spatial and species‐specific variability (e.g. nutrient availability, climate) have been poorly studied in forest ecosystems. We characterized fruit production and its temporal behaviour for several tree species and resolved the effects of gross primary production ( GPP ), climate and foliar nutrient concentrations. We used data for litterfall and foliar nutrient concentration from 126 European forests and related them to climatic data. GPP was estimated for each forest using a regression model. Mean NPP f ranged from c . 10 to 40 g C m −2 yr −1 and accounted for 0.5–3% of GPP . Forests with higher GPP s produced larger fruit crops. Foliar zinc (Zn) and phosphorus (P) concentrations were associated positively with NPP f , whereas foliar Zn and potassium (K) were negatively related to its temporal variability. Maximum NPP f and interannual variability of NPP f were higher in Fagaceae than in Pinaceae species. NPP f and % GPP f were similar amongst the studied species despite the different reproductive temporal behaviour of Fagaceae and Pinaceae species. We report that foliar concentrations of P and Zn are associated with % GPP f , NPP f and its temporal behaviour.