Long-term high nitrogen deposition accelerates the disappearance of the phosphorus-acquiring advantage of leguminous species in a subtropical forest
Abstract Leguminous species have an advantage in acquiring phosphorus (P) compared with non-leguminous species. Nonetheless, it remains unclear whether this advantage would diminish under long-term nitrogen (N) deposition. In the seventh year of a simulated long-term N deposition experiment, we sampled surface soil to measure acid phosphatase activity (ACP) in stands dominated by leguminous and non-leguminous species, respectively. To assess the response of ACP to prolonged N addition, we also collected data on ACP in the second, eighth, twelfth, and thirteenth years of the experiment. We found that the difference in soil ACP between the two plantation types disappeared after long-term N input, and this process was accelerated under high N addition. This occurred due to an exacerbated P-limitation, which primarily prompts ACP production only in non-leguminous species. Additionally, there was a relatively decreased N contribution efficiency to ACP in the stand with leguminous species, indicating that soil N content no longer primarily governs ACP. This study demonstrates that prolonged high N deposition accelerates the loss of the “P-acquiring advantage” in leguminous plantations. To elucidate the differences in P usage strategies between leguminous and non-leguminous species under global change, more systematic research is warranted in the future.
Authors
- Guangcan Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0149-1994)
- Peng Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2351-2060)
- Shun Zou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2234-3621)
- Linjie Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9634-0277)
- Senhao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6228-3999)
- Taiki Mori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1552-892X)
- Baixin Zhang
- Jiangming Mo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5156-5739)
- Qinggong Mao
- Enqing Hou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4864-2347)
- Mianhai Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1437-8018)
- Xiangping Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0425-947X)
- Wei Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4718-6386)
- Qing Ye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5445-0996)
- Yufang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4033-3574)
- Weiren Wang
- Juan Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3515-052X)
- Andi Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4404-3523)
- Kaijun Zhou
- Zhanfeng Liu
- Sheng Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1402-4153)
Institutions
- IE University (ES)
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE)
- Guizhou University (CN)
- South China Normal University (CN)
- Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CN)
- South China Botanical Garden (CN)
- People's Hospital of Shiyan (CN)
- South China Institute Of Environmental Sciences (CN)
- State Forestry and Grassland Administration (CN)
- Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (JP)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Plant Ecology
- Published
- 2025-09-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaf163
- Primary Topic
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province