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Soil characteristics and nitrogen resorption in Stipa krylovii native to northern China

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Abstract

Nitrogen (N) resorption from senescing tissues enables plants to conserve and reuse this important nutrient. As such, it is expected that plant species adapted to infertile soils could have a higher N-resorption efficiency (percentage reduction of nitrogen between green and senescing tissues) and/or higher N-resorption proficiency (absolute reduction of nitrogen in senescing tissues) than those adapted to fertile soils. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the relationships among soil characteristics (total N, nitrate-N, ammonium-N, pH and moisture) and N resorption in Stipa kryloviiRoshev., a species occurred widely in natural grasslands of northern China. N contents in green and senescing tissues were 6.7 ± 0.1 and 3.3 ± 0.1 mg g−1, respectively. The mean value of N-resorption efficiency was found to be 72.1%. The N-resorption efficiency in S. kryloviiwas independent of soil characteristics. The N-resorption proficiency in S. kryloviiwas dependent on soil nitrate- and ammonium-N, but it was relatively independent of soil total N. The N-resorption proficiency was negatively correlated with soil pH and moisture. There was a positive correlation between N concentration in green tissues and resorption efficiency. However, N-resorption efficiency was not correlated significantly with N concentration in senescing tissues. These results indicate that the intraspecific variation in N resorption of Stipa kryloviiRoshev. is associated with soil regimes and that higher N resorption on N-poor soils is an adaptive strategy for S. kryloviito maximize N use under conditions of limited N supply.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Quantitative Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Botany, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100093, People’s Republic of China

    Zhi-You Yuan, Ling-Hao Li, **ng-Guo Han, Jian-Hui Huang & Gao-Ming Jiang

  2. Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831-6422, USA

    Shi-Qiang Wan

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  1. Zhi-You Yuan
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Correspondence to Ling-Hao Li.

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Yuan, ZY., Li, LH., Han, XG. et al. Soil characteristics and nitrogen resorption in Stipa krylovii native to northern China. Plant Soil 273, 257–268 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-004-7941-7

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