Abstract
Nutrient resorption (NR) from senescing leaves plays an important role in the conservation of nutrients in plants. The nutrient resorption efficiency depends on several factors including availability of soil nutrients, species type and leaf nutrient quality. Although several researchers have worked on the pattern of NR in deciduous and evergreen plants, it varied widely. Since the variations are species-specific and many functional groups prevailing in tropical and subtropical forests have not been studied, the understanding of NR pattern in varied functional groups remained incomplete. In this study, Nitrogen resorption efficiency (NRE) of four tree species belonging to different functional groups viz., Alnus nepalensis (non-leguminous nitrogen-fixing and deciduous), Lithocarpus dealbatus (broadleaved and evergreen), Pinus kesiya (coniferous and evergreen) and Schima wallichii (broadleaved semi-evergreen) were studied. NRE was greatest in Alnus nepalensis and Schima wallichii immediately before the maximum leaf fall and it decreased in the subsequent months. However, NRE in Lithocarpus dealbatus exhibited identical values across all the months in a year. In Pinus kesiya, the NRE was the lowest and it varied through six months. The nitrogen concentration in the leaves and NRE varied significantly among the species and across the months. The trees belonging to certain functional groups did not differ in their NREs in different months of a year due to the availability of alternate strategies to acquire nitrogen or being semi-/ evergreen in nature to cope up with their nutrient loss.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ackerly DD, Bazzaz FA (1995) Leaf dynamics, self-shading and carbon gain in seedlings of a tropical pioneer tree. Oecologia 101:289–298
Aerts R (1990) Nutrient use efficiency in evergreen and deciduous species from heathlands. Oecologia 84:391–397
Aerts R (1996) Nutrient resorption from senescing leaves of perennials: Are there general patterns? J Ecol 84:597–608
Aerts R (1997) Nitrogen partitioning between resorption and decomposition pathway: a trade-off between nitrogen use efficiency and litter decomposability. Oikos 80:603–606
Aerts R, Chapin FS III (2000) The mineral nutrition of wild plants revisited: a re-evaluation of processes and patterns. Adv Ecol Res 30:1–67
Ares A, Gleason SM (2007) Foliar nutrients resorption in tree species. In: Scaggs AK (ed) New research on forest ecology. Nova Science Publishers Inc, New York, pp 1–32
Arneth A, Kelliher FM, Bauer G, Hollinger DY, Byers JN, Hunt JE, Mcseveny TM, Ziegler W, Vygodskaya NN, Milukova I, Sogachov A, Varlagin A, Schulze E-D, (1996) Environmental regulation of xylem sap flow and total conductance of Larix gmelinii trees in eastern Siberia. Tree Physiol 16:247–255
Athokpam FD, Garkoti SC (2005) Dynamics of foliar nitrogen of evergreen and deciduous plant species in a wet tropical forest, South Assam, India. Plant Ecol 216:1117–1135
Buchanan-Wollaston V (1997) The molecular biology of leaf senescence. J Exp Bot 48:181–199
Carrera AL, Sain CL, Bertiller MB (2000) Patterns of nitrogen conservation in shrubs and grasses in the Patagonian Monte, Argentina. Plant Soil 224:185–193
Chabot BF, Hicks DJ (1982) The ecology of leaf life spans. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 13:229–259
Chapin FSIII (1980) The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 11:233–260
Chapin FSIII, Kedrowski RA (1983) Seasonal changes in nitrogen and phosphorus fractions and autumn retranslocation in evergreen and deciduous Taiga trees. Ecology 64:376–391
Chapin FS, Moilanen L (1991) Nutritional controls over nitrogen and phosphorus resorption from Alaskan birch leaves. Ecology 72:709–715
Chapin FS, Tryon PR (1983) Habitat and leaf habit as determinants of growth, nutrient absorption and nutrient use by Alaskan taiga forest species. Can J For Res 13:818–826
Côté B, Vogel CS, Dawson JO (1989) Autumnal changes in tissue nitrogen of autumn olive, black alder, and eastern cottonwood. Plant Soil 118:23–32
Covelo F, Rodriguez A, Gallardo A (2008) Spatial pattern and scale of leaf N and P resorption efficiency and proficiency in a Quercus robur population. Plant Soil 311:109–119
Dawson JO, Funk DT (1981) Seasonal change in foliar nitrogen concentration of Alnus glutinosa. For Sci 27:239–243
Eckstein RL, Karlsson PS, Weih M (1999) Leaf life span and nutrient resorption as determinants of plant nutrient conservation in temperate-arctic regions. New Phytol 143:177–189
Enoki T, Kawaguchi H (1999) Nitrogen resorption from needles of Pinus thunbergii Parl growing along a topographic gradient of soil nutrient availability. Ecol Res 14:1–8
Escudero A, Mediavilla S (2003) Decline in photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency with leaf age and nitrogen resorption as determinants of leaf life-span. J Ecol 91:880–889
Han W, Tang L, Chen Y, Fang J (2013) Relationship between the Relative Limitation and Resorption Efficiency of Nitrogen vs Phosphorus in Woody Plants. PLoS ONE 8:e83366
Hikosaka K (2005) Leaf canopy as a dynamic system: ecophysiology and optimality in leaf turnover. Ann Bot 95:521–533
Jackson MK (1973) Soil chemical analysis. Prentice Hall Inc., Engle Wood Cliffs
Killingbeck KT (1993) Inefficient nitrogen resorption in genets of the actinorhizal nitrogen-fixing shrub Comptonia peregrina: Physiological inaptitude or evolutionary trade-off? Oecologia 54:542–549
Killingbeck KT (1996) Nutrients in senescent leaves: keys to the search for potential resorption and resorption proficiency. Ecology 77:1716–1727
Kobe RK, Lepczyk CA, Iyer M (2005) Resorption efficiency decreases with increasing green leaf nutrients in a global dataset. Ecology 86:2780–2792
Lambers H, Chapin FSIII, Pons TL (2008) Mineral nutrition. In: Lambers H, Chapin FS, Pons TL (eds) Plant physiological ecology. Springer, New York, pp 255–320
Leopold AC (1961) Senescence in plant development. Science 134:1727–1732
McGroody ME, Daufresne T, Hedin L (2004) Scaling of C: N: P stoichiometry in forests worldwide: implications of terrestrial Redfield-type ratios. Ecology 85:2390–2401
Mediavilla S, Escudero A (2003) Relative growth rate of leaf biomass and leaf nitrogen content in several Mediterranean woody species. Plant Ecol 168:321–332
Nambiar EKS, Fife DN (1991) Nutrient retranslocation in temperate conifers. Tree Physiol 9:185–207
Ordonez JC, van Bodegom PM, Witte JPM, Bartholomeus RP, van Dobben HF, Aerts R (2010) Leaf habit and woodiness regulate different leaf economy traits at a given nutrient supply. Ecology 91:3218–3228
Proe MF, Millard P (1994) Relationships between nutrient supply, nitrogen partitioning and growth in young Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis). Tree Physiol 14:75–88
Pugnaire FI, Chapin FS (1993) Controls over nutrient resorption from leaves of evergreen Mediterranean species. Ecology 74:124–129
Ralhan PK, Singh SP (1987) Dynamics of nutrient and leaf mass in Central Himalayan forest trees and shrubs. Ecology 68:1974–1983
Rodriquez-Barrueco C, Miguel C, Subramaniam P (1984) Seasonal fluctuations of the mineral concentration of alder from the field. Plant Soil 78:201–208
Singh A (2004) Effect of fertilization on N and P resorption efficiency of selected leguminous and nonleguminous tropical trees planted on coal mine spoil. J Indian Inst Sci 84:173–182
Singh A (2005) Influence of variation in site fertility on nitrogen and phosphorus resorption efficiency in young native tropical woody species planted on mine spoil. Indian Forester 131:1501–1504
Singh A (2007) N and P retranslocation efficiency in three evergreen tree species planted in two different habitats of varying fertility status. Indian Forester 133:945–950
Singh A (2011) Influence of interplanted species on N and P resorption efficiency of companion species in mixed plantations of various species combination raised on mine spoil. Indian J For 34:111–116
Singh A (2014) Nitrogen and phosphorus resorption efficiency in some, native tropical trees planted on a mine spoil in Singrauli Coalfields, India. Int J Environ Bioenergy 9:161–170
Singh KP, Tripathy SK (2000) Impact of environmental nutrient loading on the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Curr Sci 79:316–323
Stachurski A, Zimka JR (1975) Methods of studying forest ecosystems: leaf area, leaf production and withdrawal of nutrients from leaves of trees. Ekol Polska 23:637–648
Thomas H, Stoddart J (1980) Leaf Senescence. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 31:83–111
Vergutz L, Manzoni S, Porporato A, Novais RF, Jackson RB (2012) Global resorption efficiencies and concentrations of carbon and nutrients in leaves of terrestrial plants. Ecol Monogr 82:205–220
Vitousek PM (1982) Nutrient cycling and nutrient use efficiency. Am Nat 119:553–572
Wright IJ, Cannon K (2001) Relationships between leaf lifespan and structural defences in a low-nutrient, sclerophyll flora. Funct Ecol 15:351–359
Wright IJ, Westoby M (2003) Nutrient concentration, resorption and lifespan: leaf traits of Australian sclerophyll species. Funct Ecol 17:10–19
Yan T, Lu X, Yang K, Zhu J (2015) Leaf nutrient dynamics and nutrient resorption: a comparison between larch plantations and adjacent secondary forests in Northeast China. J Plant Ecol 9:165–173
Yuan ZY, Chen HYH (2009) Global trends in senesced-leaf nitrogen and phosphorus. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 18:532–542
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the facilities provided by the Department of Botany, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, and partial funding through the Department grant and other Programmes of UGC.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nongbri, L.B., Barik, S.K. Patterns of nitrogen resorption efficiency among different functional groups of trees in a subtropical forest of Meghalaya. Trop Ecol 61, 13–20 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-020-00064-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-020-00064-y