Plant species richness in a natural Argentinian matorral shrub-land correlates negatively with levels of plant phosphorus
(2011) In Plant and Soil 345(1-2). p.11-21- Abstract
- The aim of this study was to ascertain whether there is a relationship between plant species richness and plant-available N, P and water in an environment subject to little anthropogenic disturbance. To accomplish this we studied the vegetation in matorral shrub-lands in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Due to the variation in slope, precipitation and aspect between the sites water status was determined using the C-12/C-13 fraction, delta C-13, to investigate whether this was a confounding factor. The numbers of herb, shrub, liana and tree species were determined at 20 sites along an estimated precipitation gradient. Leaf P and N content and the delta C-13 of Berberis buxifolia were determined, as well as the soil P and N content at the... (More)
- The aim of this study was to ascertain whether there is a relationship between plant species richness and plant-available N, P and water in an environment subject to little anthropogenic disturbance. To accomplish this we studied the vegetation in matorral shrub-lands in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Due to the variation in slope, precipitation and aspect between the sites water status was determined using the C-12/C-13 fraction, delta C-13, to investigate whether this was a confounding factor. The numbers of herb, shrub, liana and tree species were determined at 20 sites along an estimated precipitation gradient. Leaf P and N content and the delta C-13 of Berberis buxifolia were determined, as well as the soil P and N content at the different sites. A negative correlation was found between species richness and Berberis buxifolia foliar P concentration (52% of the species richness variation was accounted for), and a positive correlation was found between plant species richness and Berberis buxifolia foliar N: P ratios (54% of the species richness variation was accounted for). The relationship between species richness and foliar P was seen when all layers of vegetation were included (trees, lianas, shrubs and herbs). Foliar N showed no correlation with species richness, while soil extractable NH4 showed a weak positive correlation with the number of shrub layer species (lianas, shrubs and trees). The species richness of the shrub layer increased with decreasing values of delta C-13. Low soil P availability thus affects local species richness in the matorral shrub-lands of Patagonia in Argentina although the growth of vegetation in the area has been shown to be limited by N. We suggest that low P levels increase plant species richness because low soil P concentration is associated with a high P partitioning and high potential for niche separation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2071792
- author
- Blanck, Ylva-Li; Gowda, Juan; Mårtensson, Linda-Maria LU ; Sandberg, Jakob LU and Fransson, Ann-Mari
- organization
- publishing date
- 2011
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Available P, Available N, Species richness, C-13/C-12, Water, availability, Multiple resources, Andean mountains
- in
- Plant and Soil
- volume
- 345
- issue
- 1-2
- pages
- 11 - 21
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000292999700002
- scopus:79960562810
- ISSN
- 0032-079X
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11104-010-0671-0
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- ab1dd0f3-5b98-4915-bffa-06553a745a04 (old id 2071792)
- date added to LUP
- 2011-08-29 10:01:32
- date last changed
- 2018-01-07 07:14:23
@article{ab1dd0f3-5b98-4915-bffa-06553a745a04,
abstract = {The aim of this study was to ascertain whether there is a relationship between plant species richness and plant-available N, P and water in an environment subject to little anthropogenic disturbance. To accomplish this we studied the vegetation in matorral shrub-lands in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Due to the variation in slope, precipitation and aspect between the sites water status was determined using the C-12/C-13 fraction, delta C-13, to investigate whether this was a confounding factor. The numbers of herb, shrub, liana and tree species were determined at 20 sites along an estimated precipitation gradient. Leaf P and N content and the delta C-13 of Berberis buxifolia were determined, as well as the soil P and N content at the different sites. A negative correlation was found between species richness and Berberis buxifolia foliar P concentration (52% of the species richness variation was accounted for), and a positive correlation was found between plant species richness and Berberis buxifolia foliar N: P ratios (54% of the species richness variation was accounted for). The relationship between species richness and foliar P was seen when all layers of vegetation were included (trees, lianas, shrubs and herbs). Foliar N showed no correlation with species richness, while soil extractable NH4 showed a weak positive correlation with the number of shrub layer species (lianas, shrubs and trees). The species richness of the shrub layer increased with decreasing values of delta C-13. Low soil P availability thus affects local species richness in the matorral shrub-lands of Patagonia in Argentina although the growth of vegetation in the area has been shown to be limited by N. We suggest that low P levels increase plant species richness because low soil P concentration is associated with a high P partitioning and high potential for niche separation.},
author = {Blanck, Ylva-Li and Gowda, Juan and Mårtensson, Linda-Maria and Sandberg, Jakob and Fransson, Ann-Mari},
issn = {0032-079X},
keyword = {Available P,Available N,Species richness,C-13/C-12,Water,availability,Multiple resources,Andean mountains},
language = {eng},
number = {1-2},
pages = {11--21},
publisher = {Springer},
series = {Plant and Soil},
title = {Plant species richness in a natural Argentinian matorral shrub-land correlates negatively with levels of plant phosphorus},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0671-0},
volume = {345},
year = {2011},
}