DECOMPOSITION OF SUB-ARCTIC PLANTS WITH DIFFERING NITROGEN ECONOMIES: A FUNCTIONAL ROLE FOR HEMIPARASITES
Although hemiparasitic plants have a number of roles in shaping the structure and composition of plant communities, the impact of this group on ecosystem processes, such as decomposition and nutrient cycling, has been poorly studied. In order to better understand the potential role of hemiparasites...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Figshare
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3297974 https://figshare.com/collections/DECOMPOSITION_OF_SUB-ARCTIC_PLANTS_WITH_DIFFERING_NITROGEN_ECONOMIES_A_FUNCTIONAL_ROLE_FOR_HEMIPARASITES/3297974 |
id |
ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3297974 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3297974 2023-05-15T14:56:54+02:00 DECOMPOSITION OF SUB-ARCTIC PLANTS WITH DIFFERING NITROGEN ECONOMIES: A FUNCTIONAL ROLE FOR HEMIPARASITES Quested, Helen M. J. Hans C. Cornelissen Press, Malcolm C. Callaghan, Terry V. Aerts, Rien Trosien, Frank Riemann, Petra Gwynn-Jones, Dylan Kondratchuk, Alexandra Jonasson, Sven E. 2016 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3297974 https://figshare.com/collections/DECOMPOSITION_OF_SUB-ARCTIC_PLANTS_WITH_DIFFERING_NITROGEN_ECONOMIES_A_FUNCTIONAL_ROLE_FOR_HEMIPARASITES/3297974 unknown Figshare https://dx.doi.org/10.1890/02-0426 CC-BY http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us CC-BY Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences Collection article 2016 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3297974 https://doi.org/10.1890/02-0426 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Although hemiparasitic plants have a number of roles in shaping the structure and composition of plant communities, the impact of this group on ecosystem processes, such as decomposition and nutrient cycling, has been poorly studied. In order to better understand the potential role of hemiparasites in these processes, a comparison of leaf and litter tissue quality, nitrogen (N) resorption, and decomposability with those of a wide range of other plant groups (involving a total of 72 species and including other groups with access to alternative nutrient sources, such as nitrogen fixers and carnivorous plants) was undertaken in several sub-arctic habitats. The foliar N concentration of hemiparasites generally exceeded that of co-occurring species. Further, hemiparasites (and N fixers) exhibited lower N resorption efficiencies than their counterparts with no major alternative N source. As a consequence, annual and perennial hemiparasite litter contained, on average, 3.1% and 1.9% N, respectively, compared with 0.77–1.1% for groups without a major alternative N source. Hemiparasite litter lost significantly more mass during decomposition than many, but not all, co-occurring species. These results were combined with those of a litter trapping experiment to assess the potential impact of hemiparasites on nutrient cycling. The common sub-arctic hemiparasite Bartsia alpina was estimated to increase the total annual N input from litter to the soil by ∼42% within 5 cm of its stems, and by ∼53% across a site with a Bartsia alpina stem density of 43 stems/m 2 . Our results therefore provide clear evidence in favor of a novel mechanism by which hemiparasites (in parallel with N-fixing species) may influence ecosystems in which they occur. Through the production of nutrient rich, rapidly decomposing litter, they have the potential to greatly enhance the availability of nutrients within patches where they are abundant, with possible consequent effects on small-scale biodiversity. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Arctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences |
spellingShingle |
Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences Quested, Helen M. J. Hans C. Cornelissen Press, Malcolm C. Callaghan, Terry V. Aerts, Rien Trosien, Frank Riemann, Petra Gwynn-Jones, Dylan Kondratchuk, Alexandra Jonasson, Sven E. DECOMPOSITION OF SUB-ARCTIC PLANTS WITH DIFFERING NITROGEN ECONOMIES: A FUNCTIONAL ROLE FOR HEMIPARASITES |
topic_facet |
Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences |
description |
Although hemiparasitic plants have a number of roles in shaping the structure and composition of plant communities, the impact of this group on ecosystem processes, such as decomposition and nutrient cycling, has been poorly studied. In order to better understand the potential role of hemiparasites in these processes, a comparison of leaf and litter tissue quality, nitrogen (N) resorption, and decomposability with those of a wide range of other plant groups (involving a total of 72 species and including other groups with access to alternative nutrient sources, such as nitrogen fixers and carnivorous plants) was undertaken in several sub-arctic habitats. The foliar N concentration of hemiparasites generally exceeded that of co-occurring species. Further, hemiparasites (and N fixers) exhibited lower N resorption efficiencies than their counterparts with no major alternative N source. As a consequence, annual and perennial hemiparasite litter contained, on average, 3.1% and 1.9% N, respectively, compared with 0.77–1.1% for groups without a major alternative N source. Hemiparasite litter lost significantly more mass during decomposition than many, but not all, co-occurring species. These results were combined with those of a litter trapping experiment to assess the potential impact of hemiparasites on nutrient cycling. The common sub-arctic hemiparasite Bartsia alpina was estimated to increase the total annual N input from litter to the soil by ∼42% within 5 cm of its stems, and by ∼53% across a site with a Bartsia alpina stem density of 43 stems/m 2 . Our results therefore provide clear evidence in favor of a novel mechanism by which hemiparasites (in parallel with N-fixing species) may influence ecosystems in which they occur. Through the production of nutrient rich, rapidly decomposing litter, they have the potential to greatly enhance the availability of nutrients within patches where they are abundant, with possible consequent effects on small-scale biodiversity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Quested, Helen M. J. Hans C. Cornelissen Press, Malcolm C. Callaghan, Terry V. Aerts, Rien Trosien, Frank Riemann, Petra Gwynn-Jones, Dylan Kondratchuk, Alexandra Jonasson, Sven E. |
author_facet |
Quested, Helen M. J. Hans C. Cornelissen Press, Malcolm C. Callaghan, Terry V. Aerts, Rien Trosien, Frank Riemann, Petra Gwynn-Jones, Dylan Kondratchuk, Alexandra Jonasson, Sven E. |
author_sort |
Quested, Helen M. |
title |
DECOMPOSITION OF SUB-ARCTIC PLANTS WITH DIFFERING NITROGEN ECONOMIES: A FUNCTIONAL ROLE FOR HEMIPARASITES |
title_short |
DECOMPOSITION OF SUB-ARCTIC PLANTS WITH DIFFERING NITROGEN ECONOMIES: A FUNCTIONAL ROLE FOR HEMIPARASITES |
title_full |
DECOMPOSITION OF SUB-ARCTIC PLANTS WITH DIFFERING NITROGEN ECONOMIES: A FUNCTIONAL ROLE FOR HEMIPARASITES |
title_fullStr |
DECOMPOSITION OF SUB-ARCTIC PLANTS WITH DIFFERING NITROGEN ECONOMIES: A FUNCTIONAL ROLE FOR HEMIPARASITES |
title_full_unstemmed |
DECOMPOSITION OF SUB-ARCTIC PLANTS WITH DIFFERING NITROGEN ECONOMIES: A FUNCTIONAL ROLE FOR HEMIPARASITES |
title_sort |
decomposition of sub-arctic plants with differing nitrogen economies: a functional role for hemiparasites |
publisher |
Figshare |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3297974 https://figshare.com/collections/DECOMPOSITION_OF_SUB-ARCTIC_PLANTS_WITH_DIFFERING_NITROGEN_ECONOMIES_A_FUNCTIONAL_ROLE_FOR_HEMIPARASITES/3297974 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1890/02-0426 |
op_rights |
CC-BY http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3297974 https://doi.org/10.1890/02-0426 |
_version_ |
1766328953636651008 |