Abstract
Phosphorus (P) is essential for productivity of alpine grassland ecosystems, which are sensitive to global warming. We tested the hypotheses that (1) mobilized ‘calcium-bound inorganic P’ (Ca-Pi) is a major source of plant-available P in alpine meadows with alkaline soils after long-term warming, (2) mobilization of Ca-Pi is linked to effective plant carboxylate-releasing P-acquisition strategies under warming, and (3) the mobilization is also related to plant nitrogen (N)-acquisition. We conducted an 8-year warming experiment in an alpine meadow (4635 m above sea level) on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. A significant increase in P concentration in both aboveground and belowground biomass indicates an increased mobilization and assimilation of P by plants under warming. We observed a significant decrease in Ca-Pi, no change in moderately-labile organic P, and an increase in highly resistant organic P after warming. There was no increase in phosphatase activities. Our results indicate that Ca-Pi, rather than organic P was the major source of plant-available P for alpine meadows under warming. Higher leaf manganese concentrations of sedges and forbs after warming indicate that carboxylates released by these plants are a key mechanism of Ca-Pi mobilization. The insignificant increase in Rhizobiales after warming and the very small cover of legumes show a minor role of N-acquisition strategies in solubilizing phosphate. The insignificant change in relative abundance of mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria related to P cycling after warming shows a small contribution of microorganisms to Ca-Pi mobilization. The significant increase in leaf N and P concentrations and N:P ratio of grasses and no change in sedge leaf N:P ratio reflect distinct responses of plant nutrient status to warming due to differences in P-acquisition strategies. We highlight the important effects of belowground P-acquisition strategies, especially plant carboxylate-releasing P-acquisition strategies on responses of plants to global changes in alpine meadows.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 6578-6591 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Global Change Biology |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 24 |
Early online date | 4 Oct 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2021 |
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Mobilization of soil phosphate after 8 years of warming is linked to plant phosphorus-acquisition strategies in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Datasets
-
A dataset of soil phosphorus forms and plant phosphorus-acquisition strategies after long-term warming in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
Zhou, J. (Creator), Li, X.-L. (Creator), Peng, F. (Creator), Li, C. (Creator), Lai, C. (Creator), You, Q. (Creator), Xue, X. (Creator), Wu, Y. (Creator), Sun, H. (Creator), Chen, Y. (Creator), Zhong, H. (Creator) & Lambers, H. (Creator), Science Data Bank, 30 Sept 2021
DOI: 10.57760/sciencedb.01202, https://www.scidb.cn/en/detail?dataSetId=ec26771085844d25a9eb37606bbc23a4 and one more link, https://www.doi.org/10.11922/sciencedb.01202 (show fewer)
Dataset