Abstract
In previous experiments systematic differences have been found in the morphology, carbon economy and chemical composition of seedlings of inherently fast- and slow-growing plant species, grown at a non-limiting nutrient supply. In the present experiment it was investigated whether these differences persist when plants are grown at suboptimal nutrient supply rates. To this end, plants of the inherently fast-growing Holcus lanatus L. and the inherently slow-growing Deschampsia flexuosa (L.) Trin. were grown in sand at two levels of nitrate supply. Growth, photosynthesis, respiration and carbon and nitrogen content were studied over a period of 4 to 7 weeks.
At low N-supply, the potentially fast-growing species still grew faster than the potentially slow-growing one. Similarly, differences in leaf area ratio (leaf area:total dry weight), specific leaf area (leaf area:leaf dry weight) and leaf weight ratio (leaf dry weight:total dry weight), as observed at high N-supply persisted at low N-availability. The only growth parameter for which a substantial Species × N-supply interaction was found was the net assimilation rate (increase in dry weight per unit leaf area and time). Rates of photosynthesis, shoot respiration and root respiration, expressed per unit leaf, shoot and root weight, respectively, were lower for the plants at low N-availability and higher for the fast-growing species. Species-specific variation in the daily carbon budget was mainly due to variation in carbon fixation. Lower values at low N were largely determined by both a lower C-gain of the leaves and a higher proportion of the daily gain spent in root respiration.
Interspecific variation in C-content and dry weight:fresh weight ratio were similar at low and high N-supply. Total plant organic N decreased with decreasing N-supply, without differences between species. It is concluded that most of the parameters related to growth, C-economy and chemical composition differ between species and/or are affected by N-supply, but that differences between the two species at high N-availability persist at low N-supply.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- LAR:
-
leaf area ratio
- LWR:
-
leaf weight ratio
- NAR:
-
net assimilation rate
- RGR:
-
relative growth rate
- RWR:
-
root weight ratio
- SLA:
-
specific leaf area
- SWR:
-
stem weight ratio
References
Aerts, R 1990 Nutrient use effciency in evergreen and deciduous species from heathlands. Oecologia 84, 391–397.
Aerts, R and Van der Peijl, M J 1993 A simple model to explain the dominance of low-productive perennials in nutrient-poor habitats. Oikos 66, 144–147.
Berendse, F and Elberse, W T 1989 Competition and nutrient losses from the plant. In Causes and Consequences of Variation in Growth Rate and Productivity of Higher Plants. Eds H Lambers, M L Cambridge, H Konings and T L Pons. pp 269–284. SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague.
Boot, R G A and Den Dubbelden, K C 1990 Effects of nitrogen supply on growth, allocation and gas exchange characteristics of two perennial grasses from inland dunes. Oecologia 85, 115–121.
Boot, R G A and Mensink, M 1991 The influence of nitrogen availability on growth parameters of fast- and slow-growing perennial grasses. In Plant Root Growth. An Ecological Perspective. Ed. D Atkinson. pp 161–168. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Edinburgh.
Boot, R G A, Schildwacht, P M and Lambers, H 1992 Partitioning of nitrogen and biomass at a range of N-addition rates and their consequences for growth and gas exchange in two perennial grasses from inland dunes. Physiol. Plant. 86, 152–160.
Chabot, B F and Hicks, D J 1982 The ecology of leaf life spans. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 13, 229–259.
Chapin, F S 1980 The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 11, 233–260.
Chapin, F S, Walter, C H S and Clarkson, D T 1988 Growth response of barley and tomato and its control by abscisic acid, water relations and photosynthesis. Planta 173, 352–366.
Coley, P D, Bryant, J P and Chapin, F S 1985 Resource availability and plant herbivore defence. Science 230, 895–899.
Dijkstra, P 1989 Cause and effect of differences in specific leaf area. In Causes and Consequences of Variation in Growth Rate and Productivity of Higher Plants. Eds. H Lambers, L Cambridge, H Konings and L Pons. pp 125–140 SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague.
Dijkstra, P and Lambers, H 1989 A physiological analysis of genetic variation in relative growth rate within Plantago major L. Funct. Ecol. 3, 577–587.
Evans, J R 1983 Nitrogen and photosynthesis in the flag leaf of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Plant Physiol. 72, 297–302.
Escudero, A, Del Arco, J M, Sanz, I C and Ayala, J 1992 Effects of leaf longevity and retranslocation efficiency on the retention time of nutrients in the leaf biomass of different woody species. Oecologia 90, 80–87.
Fichtner, K and Schulze, E D 1992 The effect of nitrogen nutrition and biomass partitioning of annual plants originating from habitats of different nitrogen availability. Oecologia 92, 236–241.
Garnier E and Laurent G 1994 Leaf anatomy, specific mass and water content in congeneric annual and perennial grass species. New Phytol. (In press).
Garnier, E, Koch, G W, Roy, J and Mooney, H A 1989 Responses of wild plants to nitrate availability. Relationships between growth rate and nitrate uptake parameters, a case study with two Bromus species, and a survey. Oecologia 79, 542–550.
Gray, J T and Schlesinger, W H 1983 Nutrient use by evergreen and deciduous shrubs in Southern California. II. Experimental investigations of the relationship between growth, nitrogen uptake and nitrogen availability. J. Ecol. 71, 43–56.
Grime, J P 1979 Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester.
Grime, J P and Hunt, R 1975 Relative growth-rate: Its range and adaptive significance in a local flora. J. Ecol. 63, 393–422.
Hackett, C 1965 Ecological aspects of the nutrition of Deschampsia flexuosa (L.) Trin. II. The effects of Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mn, N, P and pH on the growth of seedlings and established plants. J. Ecol. 53, 315–333.
Hull, J C and Mooney, H A 1990 Effects of nitrogen on photosynthesis and growth rates of four Californian annual grasses. Acta Oecol. 11, 453–468.
Ingestad, T 1982 Relative addition rate and external concentration, driving variables used in plant nutrition research. Plant Cell Environ. 5, 443–453.
Lambers, H and Poorter, H 1992 Inherent variation in growth rate between higher plants: A search for physiological causes and ecological consequences. Adv. Ecol. Res. 23, 187–261.
Lambers, H, Van der Werf, A and Bergkotte, M 1993 Respiration: the alternative pathway. In Methods in Comparative Plant Ecology—a Laboratory Manual. Eds. G A F Hendry and J P Grime. pp 140–144. Chapman and Hall, London.
Muller, B and Garnier, E 1990 Components of relative growth rate and sensitivity to nitrogen availability in annual and perennial species of Bromus. Oecologia 84, 513–518.
Olff, H 1992 Effects of light and nutrient availability on dry matter and N allocation in six successional grassland species. Testing for resource ratio effects. Oecologia 89, 412–421.
Poorter, H 1989a Growth analysis: towards a synthesis of the classical and the functional approach. Physiol. Plant. 75, 237–244.
Poorter, H 1989b Interspecife variation in relative growth rate: On ecological causes and physiological consequences. In Causes and Consequences of Variation in Growth Rate and Productivity of Higher Plants. Eds. H Lambers, M L Cambridge H Konings and T L Pons. pp 45–68. SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague.
Poorter, H and Bergkotte, M 1992 Chemical composition of 24 wild species differing in relative growth rate. Plant Cell Environ. 15, 221–229.
Poorter, H and Pothmann, P 1992 Growth and carbon economy of a fast-growing and a slow-growing grass species as dependent on ontogeny. New Phytol. 120, 159–166.
Poorter, H and Remkes, C 1990 Leaf area ratio and net assimilation rate of 24 wild species differing in relative growth rate. Oecologia 83, 553–559.
Poorter, H and Welschen, R A M 1993 Analyzing variation in RGR in terms of the underlying carbon economy. In Methods in Comparative Plant Ecology—a Laboratory manual. Eds. G A F Hendry and J P Grime. pp 107–110, Chapman and Hall, London.
Poorter, H, Remkes, C and Lambers, H 1990 Carbon and nitrogen economy of 24 wild species differing in relative growth rate. Plant Physiol. 94, 621–627.
Reich, R B, Uhl, C, Walters, M B and Ellsworth, D S 1991 Leaf life span as a determinant of leaf structure and function among 23 amazonian tree species. Oecologia 86, 16–24.
Ryser P and Lambers H 1994 Root and leaf attributes accounting for the performance of fast-and slow-growing grasses at different nutrient supply. Plant and Soil (In press).
Sage, R F and Pearcy, R W 1987 The nitrogen use effciency of C3 and C4 plants. II. Leaf nitrogen effects on the gas exchange characteristics of Chenopodium album (L.) and Amaranthus retroflexus (L.). Plant Physiol. 84, 959–963.
Shipley, B and Keddy, P A 1988 The relationship between relative growth rate and sensitivity to nutrient stress in twenty-eight species of emergent macrophytes. J. Ecol. 76, 1101–1110.
Van Arendonk, J J C M and Poorter, H 1994 The chemical composition and anatomical structure of leaves of grass species differing in relative growth rate. Plant Cell Environ. 17, 963–970.
Van der Werf, A, Welschen, R and Lambers, H 1992 Respiratory losses increase with decreasing inherent growth rate of a species and with decreasing nitrate supply: a search for explanations for these observations. In Molecular, Biochemical and Physiological Aspects of Plant Respiration. Eds. H Lambers and L H Wvan der Plas. pp 421–432. SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague.
Van der Werf, A, Van Nuenen, M, Visser, A and Lambers, H 1993 Contribution of physiological and morphological traits to a species' competitive ability at high and low nitrogen supply. A hypothesis for inherently fast- and slow-growing monocotyledonous species. Oecologia 94, 434–440.
Van de Vijver, C A S M, Boot, R G A, Poorter, H and Lambers, H 1993 Phenotypic plasticity in response to nitrate supply of an inherently fast-growing species from a fertile habitat and an inherently slow-growing species from an infertile habitat. Oecologia 96, 548–554.
Von Caemmerer, S and Farquhar, G D 1981 Some relationships between the biochemistry of photosynthesis and the gas exchange of leaves. Planta 153, 376–387.
Walters, M B, Kruger, E L and Reich, P B 1993 Relative growth rate in relation to physiological and morphological traits for northern hardwood tree seedlings: species, light environment and ontogenetic considerations. Oecologia 96, 219–231.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Poorter, H., van de Vijver, C.A.D.M., Boot, R.G.A. et al. Growth and carbon economy of a fast-growing and a slow-growing grass species as dependent on nitrate supply. Plant Soil 171, 217–227 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00010275
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00010275