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Studies of NH4+ and NO3- uptake ability of subalpine plants and resource-use strategy identified by their functional traits

Legay Nicolas, Grassein Fabrice, Arnoldi Cindy, Segura Raphaël, Laîné Philippe, Lavorel Sandra, Clément Jean-Christophe
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/372235
Legay Nicolas
1Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine, CNRS UMR 5553, Université Grenoble Alpes, France
2INSA Centre Val de Loire, Université de Tours, CNRS, UMR 7324 CITERES - Tours, France
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  • For correspondence: nicolas.legay@insa-cvl.fr
Grassein Fabrice
3Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, INRA, UMR 950 Ecophysiologie Végétale, Agronomie et nutritions N, C, S - Caen, France
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Arnoldi Cindy
1Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine, CNRS UMR 5553, Université Grenoble Alpes, France
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Segura Raphaël
3Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, INRA, UMR 950 Ecophysiologie Végétale, Agronomie et nutritions N, C, S - Caen, France
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Laîné Philippe
4CARRTEL, UMR 0042 INRA-Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc - Le Bourget du Lac, France
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Lavorel Sandra
1Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine, CNRS UMR 5553, Université Grenoble Alpes, France
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Clément Jean-Christophe
1Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine, CNRS UMR 5553, Université Grenoble Alpes, France
4CARRTEL, UMR 0042 INRA-Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc - Le Bourget du Lac, France
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Abstract

The leaf economics spectrum (LES) is based on a suite of leaf traits related to plant functioning and ranges from resource-conservative to resource-acquisitive strategies. However, the relationships with root traits, and the associated belowground plant functioning such as N uptake, including nitrate (NO3-) and ammonium (NH4+), is still poorly known. Additionally, environmental variations occurring both in time and in space could uncouple LES from root traits. We explored, in subalpine grasslands, the relationships between leaf and root morphological traits for 3 dominant perennial grass species, and to what extent they contribute to the whole-plant economics spectrum. We also investigated the link between this spectrum and NO3- and NH4+ uptake rates, as well as the variations of uptake across four grasslands differing by the land-use history at peak biomass and in autumn. Although poorly correlated with leaf traits, root traits contributed to an economic spectrum at the whole plant level. Higher NH4+ and NO3- uptake abilities were associated with the resource-acquisitive strategy.

Nonetheless, NH4+ and NO3- uptake within species varied between land-uses and with sampling time, suggesting that LES and plant traits are good, but still incomplete, descriptors of plant functioning. Although the NH4+: NO3- uptake ratio was different between plant species in our study, they all showed a preference for NH4+, and particularly the most conservative species. Soil environmental variations between grasslands and sampling times may also drive to some extent the NH4+ and NO3- uptake ability of species. Our results support the current efforts to build a more general framework including above- and below-ground processes when studying plant community functioning.

Footnotes

  • ↵* Shared first co-authorship

  • Cite as: Legay N, Grassein F, Arnoldi C, Segura R, Laîné P, Lavorel S and Clément J.C. Studies of NH4+ and NO3- uptake ability of subalpine plants and resource-use strategy identified by their functional traits. bioRxiv 372235, ver. 4 peer-reviewed and recommended by PCI Ecology (2020).

  • Recommender: Sébastien Barot

  • Reviewers: Vincent Lemaire and one anonymous reviewer

  • http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3598570

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted January 07, 2020.
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Studies of NH4+ and NO3- uptake ability of subalpine plants and resource-use strategy identified by their functional traits
Legay Nicolas, Grassein Fabrice, Arnoldi Cindy, Segura Raphaël, Laîné Philippe, Lavorel Sandra, Clément Jean-Christophe
bioRxiv 372235; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/372235
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Studies of NH4+ and NO3- uptake ability of subalpine plants and resource-use strategy identified by their functional traits
Legay Nicolas, Grassein Fabrice, Arnoldi Cindy, Segura Raphaël, Laîné Philippe, Lavorel Sandra, Clément Jean-Christophe
bioRxiv 372235; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/372235

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