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Nutrient resorption patterns of plant functional groups in a tropical savanna: variation and functional significance

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Abstract

Green and senesced leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations of different plant functional groups in savanna communities of Kruger National Park, South Africa were analyzed to determine if nutrient resorption was regulated by plant nutritional status and foliar N:P ratios. The N and P concentrations in green leaves and the N concentrations in senesced leaves differed significantly between the dominant plant functional groups in these savannas: fine-leaved trees, broad-leaved trees and grasses. However, all three functional groups reduced P to comparable and very low levels in senesced leaves, suggesting that P was tightly conserved in this tropical semi-arid savanna ecosystem. Across all functional groups, there was evidence for nutritional control of resorption in this system, with both N and P resorption efficiencies decreasing as green leaf nutrient concentrations increased. However, specific patterns of resorption and the functional relationships between nutrient concentrations in green and senesced leaves varied by nutrient and plant functional group. Functional relationships between N concentrations in green and senesced leaves were indistinguishable between the dominant groups, suggesting that variation in N resorption efficiency was largely the result of inter-life form differences in green leaf N concentrations. In contrast, observed differences in P resorption efficiencies between life forms appear to be the result of both differences in green leaf P concentrations as well as inherent differences between life forms in the fraction of green leaf P resorbed from senescing leaves. Our results indicate that foliar N:P ratios are poor predictors of resorption efficiency in this ecosystem, in contrast to N and P resorption proficiencies, which are more responsive to foliar N:P ratios.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by an NSF “Biocomplexity in the Environment” grant no. EAR0120630 to NPH. We thank Ian McHugh, Johann Beloyi, Dan Reuss, Jenna Rettenmayer, Joyce Dickens, Eric Peterson, Bill Sea and Gabriela Bucini for help with specimen collection and analyses. Harry Biggs, Holger Eckhardt, Thembi Xhosa and Guin Zambatis of Kruger Scientific Services, Bob Scholes, Joe Craine, Louise Rademann, and Corli Coetsee kindly provided logistical help in the field. We thank Jason Kaye and anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the earlier versions of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Jayashree Ratnam, Mahesh Sankaran & Niall P. Hanan

  2. Earth and Biosphere Institute, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS29JT, UK

    Jayashree Ratnam

  3. Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS29JT, UK

    Mahesh Sankaran

  4. Scientific Services, Kruger National Park, Private Bag X402, Skukuza, 1350, South Africa

    Rina C. Grant & Nick Zambatis

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  1. Jayashree Ratnam
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Correspondence to Jayashree Ratnam.

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Communicated by Jason Kaye.

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Ratnam, J., Sankaran, M., Hanan, N.P. et al. Nutrient resorption patterns of plant functional groups in a tropical savanna: variation and functional significance. Oecologia 157, 141–151 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1047-5

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