Nitrogen transfer between plant species with different temporal N-demand
Montesinos-Navarro, A.. 2023. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Abstract
Phenological segregation among species in a community is assumed to promote
coexistence, as using resources at different times reduces competition. However,
other unexplored nonalternative mechanisms can also result in a similar outcome.
This study first tests whether plants can redistribute nitrogen (N) among them
based on their nutritional temporal demand (i.e. phenology). Field 15N labelling
experiments showed that 15N is transferred between neighbour plants, mainly from
low N- demand (late flowering species, not reproducing yet) to high N- demand
plants (early flowering species, currently flowering-fruiting). This can reduce
species' dependence on pulses of water availability, and avoid soil N loss through
leaching, having relevant implications in the structuring of plant communities
and ecosystem functioning. Considering that species phenological segregation is a
pervasive pattern in plant communities, this can be a so far unnoticed, but widely
spread, ecological process that can predict N fluxes among species in natural
communities, and therefore impact our current understanding of community
ecology and ecosystem functioning.
Key Words
gypsum outcrop, nutrient exchange, phenology, plant community ecology, plant-plant interactions, semi-arid scrubland
