Nutrient limitations to plant production in two tundra communities

Nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition were investigated as limiting factors to primary production in a lowland wet sedge meadow and an upland birch–willow–heath community.Response to nitrogen fertilization in both communities, including increased protein content and dry weight production, indicates that...

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Published in:Canadian Journal of Botany
Main Author: Haag, Richard W.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1974
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b74-014
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b74-014
id crcansciencepubl:10.1139/b74-014
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spelling crcansciencepubl:10.1139/b74-014 2024-04-07T07:50:00+00:00 Nutrient limitations to plant production in two tundra communities Haag, Richard W. 1974 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b74-014 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b74-014 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Botany volume 52, issue 1, page 103-116 ISSN 0008-4026 Plant Science journal-article 1974 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/b74-014 2024-03-08T00:37:39Z Nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition were investigated as limiting factors to primary production in a lowland wet sedge meadow and an upland birch–willow–heath community.Response to nitrogen fertilization in both communities, including increased protein content and dry weight production, indicates that nitrogen supply limits production in both soils. In the upland community, phosphorus supply does not limit production, but in the lowland sedge meadow, dilution of the soil solution may decrease phosphorus availability and render this element limiting to production.Nitrogen, if available, can be taken up and metabolized into organic compounds despite low soil temperatures. Phosphorus metabolism may be directly limited by low soil temperatures and low available nitrogen levels.Low soil temperature exerts an indirect limitation on plant production through limitation of organic matter decomposition and microbial nitrification, thus limiting the rate of nitrogen cycling.The importance of a low nutrient regime in the Arctic may be seen in the widespread occurrence of xeromorphic characters in many taxa, which thus require minimal mineral nutrition to best use their photosynthetic capacity. The low nutrient regime may partially explain the high proportion of perennial plants in the Arctic, since these species can accumulate a nutrient pool over time from a deficient environment. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Tundra Canadian Science Publishing Arctic Canadian Journal of Botany 52 1 103 116
institution Open Polar
collection Canadian Science Publishing
op_collection_id crcansciencepubl
language English
topic Plant Science
spellingShingle Plant Science
Haag, Richard W.
Nutrient limitations to plant production in two tundra communities
topic_facet Plant Science
description Nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition were investigated as limiting factors to primary production in a lowland wet sedge meadow and an upland birch–willow–heath community.Response to nitrogen fertilization in both communities, including increased protein content and dry weight production, indicates that nitrogen supply limits production in both soils. In the upland community, phosphorus supply does not limit production, but in the lowland sedge meadow, dilution of the soil solution may decrease phosphorus availability and render this element limiting to production.Nitrogen, if available, can be taken up and metabolized into organic compounds despite low soil temperatures. Phosphorus metabolism may be directly limited by low soil temperatures and low available nitrogen levels.Low soil temperature exerts an indirect limitation on plant production through limitation of organic matter decomposition and microbial nitrification, thus limiting the rate of nitrogen cycling.The importance of a low nutrient regime in the Arctic may be seen in the widespread occurrence of xeromorphic characters in many taxa, which thus require minimal mineral nutrition to best use their photosynthetic capacity. The low nutrient regime may partially explain the high proportion of perennial plants in the Arctic, since these species can accumulate a nutrient pool over time from a deficient environment.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Haag, Richard W.
author_facet Haag, Richard W.
author_sort Haag, Richard W.
title Nutrient limitations to plant production in two tundra communities
title_short Nutrient limitations to plant production in two tundra communities
title_full Nutrient limitations to plant production in two tundra communities
title_fullStr Nutrient limitations to plant production in two tundra communities
title_full_unstemmed Nutrient limitations to plant production in two tundra communities
title_sort nutrient limitations to plant production in two tundra communities
publisher Canadian Science Publishing
publishDate 1974
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b74-014
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b74-014
geographic Arctic
geographic_facet Arctic
genre Arctic
Tundra
genre_facet Arctic
Tundra
op_source Canadian Journal of Botany
volume 52, issue 1, page 103-116
ISSN 0008-4026
op_rights http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1139/b74-014
container_title Canadian Journal of Botany
container_volume 52
container_issue 1
container_start_page 103
op_container_end_page 116
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