The Mineral Nutrition of Wild Plants Revisited: A Re-evaluation of Processes and Patterns

doi:10.1016/S0065-2504(08)60016-1

Advances in Ecological Research

Volume 30, 1999, Pages 1-67

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2504(08)60016-1 Get rights and content

Publisher Summary

In this chapter, the advances that have been made in understanding the ecology of the mineral nutrition of wild plants from terrestrial ecosystems have been reviewed. This chapter is organized along three lines. First, the issues of nutrient-limited plant growth and nutrient uptake, with special emphasis on the importance of the uptake of nutrients in organic form—both by mycorrhizal and by non-mycorrhizal plants—and the importance of symbiotic nitrogen fixation is treated. In addition, the influence of allocation patterns on mineral nutrient uptake is described. Next, a few of the nutritional aspects of leaf functioning and how nutrients are used for biomass production by the plant are explored. That is done by studying the nutrient use efficiency (NUE) of plants and the various components of NUE. Finally, the feedback of plant species to soil nutrient availability by reviewing patterns in litter decomposition and nutrient mineralization is investigated. The chapter concludes with a synthesis of the various aspects of the mineral nutrition of wild plants. The chapter ends with a conceptual description of plant strategies with respect to mineral nutrition.

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The Mineral Nutrition of Wild Plants Revisited: A Re-evaluation of Processes and Patterns

Publisher Summary

Trends Ecol. Evol.

Pedobiologia

Soil Biol. Biochem.

Geoderma

Soil Biol. Biochem.

Soil Biol. Biochem.

Adv. Ecol. Res.

The effect of increased nutrient availability on leaf turnover and aboveground productivity of two evergreen ericaceous shrubs

Oecologia

Aboveground biomass and nutrient dynamics of Calluna vulgaris Molinia caerulea in a dry heathland

Oikos

Nutrient use efficiency in evergreen and deciduous species from heathlands

Oecologia

Biomass and nutrient dynamics of dominant plant species in heathlands

Nutrient resorption from senescing leaves of perennials: are there general patterns?

J. Ecol.

Nitrogen partitioning between resorption and decomposition pathways: a trade-off between nitrogen use efficiency and litter decomposability?

Oikos

Climate, leaf litter chemistry and leaf litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems: a triangular relationship

Oikos

The effect of increased nutrient availability on vegetation dynamics in wet heathlands

Vegetatio

The impact of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on vegetation processes in terrestrial non-forest ecosystems

Aboveground productivity and nutrient turnover of Molinia caerulea along an experimental gradient of nutrient availability

Oikos

Nitrogen use efficiency of Carex species in relation to nitrogen supply

Ecology

Interspecific and intraspecific differences in shoot and leaf lifespan of four Carex species which differ in maximum dry matter production

Oecologia

Nutritional and plant-mediated controls on leaf litter decomposition of Carex species

Ecology

Heathlands, Patterns and Processes in a Changing Environment.

A simple model to explain the dominance of low-productive perennials in nutrient-poor habitats

Oikos

The relation between above-and belowground biomass allocation patterns and competitive ability

Oecologia

Competition in heathland along an experimental gradient of nutrient availability

Oikos

Growth-limiting nutrients in Sphagnum-dominated bogs subject to low and high atmospheric nitrogen supply

J. Ecol.

Seasonal allocation of biomass and nitrogen in four Carex species from mesotrophic and eutrophic fens as affected by nitrogen supply

J. Ecol.

Theory for growth of plants derived from the nitrogen productivity concept

Physiol. Plantarum

The ideal nutrient productivities and nutrient proportions

Plant Cell Environ.

The Ecology of Mycorrhizae.

Reassessing the nitrogen relations of arctic plants: a mini-review

Plant Cell Environ.

Effects of site characteristics on nitrogen retranslocation from senescing leaves

Ecology

Demographic analysis of the growth of Linum usitatissimum

New Phytol

Microbial and faunal interactions and effects on litter nitrogen and on decomposition in agroecosystems

Ecol. Monogr.

Organic matter accumulation and nitrogen mineralization during secondary succession in heathland ecosystems

J. Ecol.

Competition between plant populations at low and high nutrient supplies

Oikos

Litter decomposability–a neglected component of plant fitness

J. Ecol.

Nitrogen use efficiency: a biologically meaningful definition?

Funct. Ecol.

Competition and nutrient losses from the plant

Litter mass loss rates in pine forests of Europe and eastern United States: some relationships with climate and litter quality

Biogeochemistry

Allocation, within and between organs, and the dynamic of root length changes in two birch species

Oecologia

Nitrogen availability and nitrogen use efficiency in loblolly pine stands

Ecology

Decay rates, nitrogen fluxes, and decomposer communities of single- and mixed species foliar litter

Ecology

Effects on nutrient enrichment in Dutch chalk grassland

J. Appl. Ecol.

Critical loads for nitrogen eutrophication of terrestrial and wetland ecosystems based upon changes in vegetation and fauna

Foliar nutrient dynamics and nitrogen use efficiency of four deciduous tree species in relation to site fertility

J. Appl. Ecol.

Foliar nutrient dynamics, growth, and nutrient use efficiency of Hamamelis virginiana in three forest microsites

Symbiotically fixed nitrogen from field-grown white and red clover mixed with ryegrass at low levels of ^l5N-fertilization