Evolutionary history and root trait coordination predict nutrient strategy in tropical legume trees
© 2024 The Author(s). New Phytologist © 2024 New Phytologist Foundation.
| Publié dans: | The New phytologist. - 1979. - 243(2024), 5 vom: 31. Sept., Seite 1711-1723 |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Autres auteurs: | , , , |
| Format: | Article en ligne |
| Langue: | English |
| Publié: |
2024
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| Accès à la collection: | The New phytologist |
| Sujets: | Journal Article Fabaceae belowground traits mycorrhizas nitrogen fixation nutrient trading phosphatase enzymes phylogeny root economics Carbon plus... |
| Résumé: | © 2024 The Author(s). New Phytologist © 2024 New Phytologist Foundation. Plants express diverse nutrient use and acquisition traits, but it is unclear how trait combinations at the species level are constrained by phylogeny, trait coordination, or trade-offs in resource investment. One trait - nitrogen (N) fixation - is assumed to correlate with other traits and used to define plant functional groups, despite potential confounding effects of phylogeny. We quantified growth, carbon metabolism, fixation rate, root phosphatase activity (RPA), mycorrhizal colonization, and leaf and root morphology/chemistry across 22 species of fixing and nonfixing tropical Fabaceae trees under common conditions. Belowground trait variation was high even among closely related species, and most traits displayed a phylogenetic signal, including N-fixation rate and nodule biomass. Across species, we observed strong positive correlations between physiological traits such as RPA and root respiration. RPA increased ~ fourfold per unit increase in fixation, supporting the debated hypothesis that N-fixers 'trade' N for phosphatases to enhance phosphorus acquisition. Specific root length and root N differed between functional groups, though for other traits, apparent differences became nonsignificant after accounting for phylogenetic nonindependence. We conclude that evolutionary history, trait coordination, and fixation ability contribute to nutrient trait expression at the species level, and recommend explicitly considering phylogeny in analyses of functional groupings |
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| Description: | Date Completed 01.08.2024 Date Revised 01.08.2024 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1469-8137 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/nph.19962 |