| Abstract Detail
Ecophysiology Drenovsky, Rebecca [1], Koehler, Catherine [2], Skelly, Kathryn [1], Richards, James [3]. Nutrient resorption plasticity in California chaparral woody species. Nutrient conservation mechanisms play key roles in plant adaptation to low nutrient availability. Resorption (the recycling of nutrients from senescing tissues) is considered one of the most important traits plants have to retain nutrients, but its relationship to soil nutrient availability is unclear. We proposed that phylogenetic relationships and various environmental factors may obscure relationships between soil nutrient availability and plant nutrient resorption. For six years, we collected senesced leaf tissue from community dominants and congener pairs found on and off serpentine (low nutrient) soils. In year five we collected soils under the target congener pairs. We hypothesized that serpentine species would be more proficient at N and P resorption, due to low nutrient availability on these soils. Both serpentine and non-serpentine soils were low in nitrogen availability, with non-serpentine soils having lower total soil N (P=0.001) and serpentine soils have higher soil C:N (P<0.0001). Extractable soil P was 1.9-fold higher on non-serpentine compared to serpentine soils (P=0.0002). Non-serpentine and serpentine species were equally proficient at N resorption (P>0.05), but serpentine species were more proficient at P resorption (P<0.0001). Large interannual variability was observed in resorption proficiency in all species studied, but this variability was not strongly related to either seasonal or annual variability in temperature or precipitation. Our data suggest that controlling for phylogeny can aid in interpretation of resorption patterns. More importantly, our study clearly shows that resorption patterns can only be discerned through long-term datasets, of which few exist in the literature. Broader Impacts:
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1 - John Carroll University, Biology, 20700 North Park Blvd, University Heights, OH, 44118, USA
2 - University of California, Davis, Donald and Sylvia McLaughlin Natural Reserve, 26775 Morgan Valley Road, Lower Lake, CA, 95457 , USA
3 - University Of California Davis, Land, Air And Water Resources, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616-8627, USA
Keywords:
none specified
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Session: 18
Location: Forsyth Room/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Monday, July 11th, 2011
Time: 1:50 PM
Number: 18003
Abstract ID:125 |
