Nitrogen and carbon source–sink relationships in trees at the Himalayan treelines compared with lower elevations
ABSTRACT No single hypothesis or theory has been widely accepted for explaining the functional mechanism of global alpine/arctic treeline formation. The present study tested whether the alpine treeline is determined by (1) the needle nitrogen content associated with photosynthesis (carbon gain); (2)...
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crwiley:10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01848.x 2024-09-30T14:31:09+00:00 Nitrogen and carbon source–sink relationships in trees at the Himalayan treelines compared with lower elevations LI, MAI‐HE XIAO, WEN‐FA SHI, PEILI WANG, SAN‐GEN ZHONG, YONG‐DE LIU, XING‐LIANG WANG, XIAO‐DAN CAI, XIAO‐HU SHI, ZUO‐MIN 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01848.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-3040.2008.01848.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01848.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Plant, Cell & Environment volume 31, issue 10, page 1377-1387 ISSN 0140-7791 1365-3040 journal-article 2008 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01848.x 2024-09-05T05:07:03Z ABSTRACT No single hypothesis or theory has been widely accepted for explaining the functional mechanism of global alpine/arctic treeline formation. The present study tested whether the alpine treeline is determined by (1) the needle nitrogen content associated with photosynthesis (carbon gain); (2) a sufficient source–sink ratio of carbon; or (3) a sufficient C–N ratio. Nitrogen does not limit the growth and development of trees studied at the Himalayan treelines. Levels of non‐structural carbohydrates (NSC) in trees were species‐specific and site‐dependent; therefore, the treeline cases studied did not show consistent evidence of source/carbon limitation or sink/growth limitation in treeline trees. However, results of the combined three treelines showed that the treeline trees may suffer from a winter carbon shortage. The source capacity and the sink capacity of a tree influence its tissue NSC concentrations and the carbon balance; therefore, we suggest that the persistence and development of treeline trees in a harsh alpine environment may require a minimum level of the total NSC concentration, a sufficiently high sugar:starch ratio, and a balanced carbon source–sink relationship. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Wiley Online Library Arctic The Needle ENVELOPE(-64.047,-64.047,63.267,63.267) Plant, Cell & Environment 31 10 1377 1387 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT No single hypothesis or theory has been widely accepted for explaining the functional mechanism of global alpine/arctic treeline formation. The present study tested whether the alpine treeline is determined by (1) the needle nitrogen content associated with photosynthesis (carbon gain); (2) a sufficient source–sink ratio of carbon; or (3) a sufficient C–N ratio. Nitrogen does not limit the growth and development of trees studied at the Himalayan treelines. Levels of non‐structural carbohydrates (NSC) in trees were species‐specific and site‐dependent; therefore, the treeline cases studied did not show consistent evidence of source/carbon limitation or sink/growth limitation in treeline trees. However, results of the combined three treelines showed that the treeline trees may suffer from a winter carbon shortage. The source capacity and the sink capacity of a tree influence its tissue NSC concentrations and the carbon balance; therefore, we suggest that the persistence and development of treeline trees in a harsh alpine environment may require a minimum level of the total NSC concentration, a sufficiently high sugar:starch ratio, and a balanced carbon source–sink relationship. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
LI, MAI‐HE XIAO, WEN‐FA SHI, PEILI WANG, SAN‐GEN ZHONG, YONG‐DE LIU, XING‐LIANG WANG, XIAO‐DAN CAI, XIAO‐HU SHI, ZUO‐MIN |
spellingShingle |
LI, MAI‐HE XIAO, WEN‐FA SHI, PEILI WANG, SAN‐GEN ZHONG, YONG‐DE LIU, XING‐LIANG WANG, XIAO‐DAN CAI, XIAO‐HU SHI, ZUO‐MIN Nitrogen and carbon source–sink relationships in trees at the Himalayan treelines compared with lower elevations |
author_facet |
LI, MAI‐HE XIAO, WEN‐FA SHI, PEILI WANG, SAN‐GEN ZHONG, YONG‐DE LIU, XING‐LIANG WANG, XIAO‐DAN CAI, XIAO‐HU SHI, ZUO‐MIN |
author_sort |
LI, MAI‐HE |
title |
Nitrogen and carbon source–sink relationships in trees at the Himalayan treelines compared with lower elevations |
title_short |
Nitrogen and carbon source–sink relationships in trees at the Himalayan treelines compared with lower elevations |
title_full |
Nitrogen and carbon source–sink relationships in trees at the Himalayan treelines compared with lower elevations |
title_fullStr |
Nitrogen and carbon source–sink relationships in trees at the Himalayan treelines compared with lower elevations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Nitrogen and carbon source–sink relationships in trees at the Himalayan treelines compared with lower elevations |
title_sort |
nitrogen and carbon source–sink relationships in trees at the himalayan treelines compared with lower elevations |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01848.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-3040.2008.01848.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01848.x |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-64.047,-64.047,63.267,63.267) |
geographic |
Arctic The Needle |
geographic_facet |
Arctic The Needle |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Plant, Cell & Environment volume 31, issue 10, page 1377-1387 ISSN 0140-7791 1365-3040 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01848.x |
container_title |
Plant, Cell & Environment |
container_volume |
31 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
1377 |
op_container_end_page |
1387 |
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1811635809587036160 |