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Modulation of respiratory metabolism in response to nutrient changes along a soil chronosequence
Author(s) -
KORNFELD ARI,
ATKIN OWEN K.,
GRIFFIN KEVIN L.,
HORTON TRAVIS W.,
YAKIR DAN,
TURNBULL MATTHEW H.
Publication year - 2013
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/pce.12047
Subject(s) - chronosequence , respiration , nutrient , agronomy , soil respiration , phosphorus , environmental science , soil carbon , nitrogen , environmental chemistry , biology , chemistry , ecology , botany , soil science , soil water , organic chemistry
The ability for plants to sequester atmospheric carbon, and thus offset anthropogenic carbon inputs, is partly determined by the amount of CO 2 returned to the atmosphere by respiration, yet little is known about how plants modulate respiratory efficiency under natural conditions. Here we investigated how respiratory efficiency might be affected by changes in soil fertility associated with soil development and decline along a natural soil chronosequence near F ranz J osef, N ew Z ealand. Whereas respiration tracked leaf nitrogen content, we found that determinants of respiratory efficiency were more strongly influenced by leaf phosphorus or the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus. These results, the first of their kind to look at plants growing along a natural gradient, highlight the importance of understanding the details of plant respiratory metabolism when modeling the interactions between plants, atmosphere, and E arth's climate system.