N : P ratios in terrestrial plants: variation and functional significance

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability limit plant growth in most terrestrial ecosystems. This review examines how variation in the relative availability of N and P, as reflected by N : P ratios of plant biomass, influences vegetation composition and functioning. Plastic responses of plants to N and P supply cause up to 50-fold variation in biomass N : P ratios, associated with differences in root allocation, nutrient uptake, biomass turnover and reproductive output. Optimal N : P ratios - those of plants whose growth is equally limited by N and P - depend on species, growth rate, plant age and plant parts. At vegetation level, N : P ratios <10 and >20 often (not always) correspond to N- and P-limited biomass production, as shown by short-term fertilization experiments; however long-term effects of fertilization or effects on individual species can be different. N : P ratios are on average higher in graminoids than in forbs, and in stress-tolerant species compared with ruderals; they correlate negatively with the maximal relative growth rates of species and with their N-indicator values. At vegetation level, N : P ratios often correlate negatively with biomass production; high N : P ratios promote graminoids and stress tolerators relative to other species, whereas relationships with species richness are not consistent. N : P ratios are influenced by global change, increased atmospheric N deposition, and conservation managment. Contents Summary 243 I Introduction 244 II Variability of N : P ratios in response to nutrient  supply 244 III Critical N : P ratios as indicators of nutrient  limitation 248 IV Interspecific variation in N : P ratios 252 V Vegetation properties in relation to N : P ratios 255 VI Implications of N : P ratios for human impacts  on ecosystems 258 VII Conclusions 259 Acknowledgements 259 References 260.

Global patterns of plant leaf N and P in relation to temperature and latitude

A global data set including 5,087 observations of leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) for 1,280 plant species at 452 sites and of associated mean climate indices demonstrates broad biogeographic patterns. In general, leaf N and P decline and the N/P ratio increases toward the equator as average temperature and growing season length increase. These patterns are similar for five dominant plant groups, coniferous trees and four angiosperm groups (grasses, herbs, shrubs, and trees). These results support the hypotheses that (i) leaf N and P increase from the tropics to the cooler and drier midlatitudes because of temperature-related plant physiological stoichiometry and biogeographical gradients in soil substrate age and then plateau or decrease at high latitudes because of cold temperature effects on biogeochemistry and (ii) the N/P ratio increases with mean temperature and toward the equator, because P is a major limiting nutrient in older tropical soils and N is the major limiting nutrient in younger temperate and high-latitude soils.

Predation, competition, and nutrient recycling: a stoichiometric approach with multiple nutrients

A model for two competing prey species and one predator is formulated in which three essential nutrients can limit growth of all populations. Prey take up dissolved nutrients and predators ingest prey, assimilating a portion of ingested nutrients and recycling or respiring the balance. For all species, the nutrient contents of individuals vary and growth is coupled to increasing content of the limiting nutrient. This model was parameterized to describe a flagellate preying on two bacterial species, with carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) as nutrients. Parameters were chosen so that the two prey species would stably coexist without predators under some nutrient supply conditions. Using numerical simulations, the long-term outcomes of competition and predation were explored for a gradient of N:P supply ratios, varying C supply, and varying preference of the predator for the two prey. Coexistence and competitive exclusion both occurred under some conditions of nutrient supply and predator preference. As in simpler models of competition and predation these outcomes were largely governed by apparent competition mediated by the predator, and resource competition for nutrients whose effective supply was partly governed by nutrient recycling also mediated by the predator. For relatively small regions of parameter space, more complex outcomes with multiple attractors or three-species limit cycles occurred. The multiple constraints posed by multiple nutrients held the amplitudes of these cycles in check, limiting the influence of complex dynamics on competitive outcomes for the parameter ranges explored.