Leaf economic strategies drive global variation in phosphorus stimulation of terrestrial plant production
Nan Yang, Constantin M. Zohner, Thomas W. Crowther, Jiguang Feng, Jin Wu, Xinli Chen, Wenxuan Han, Benjamin D. Stocker, Dafeng Hui, Laurent Augusto, Kai Yue, Enqing Hou, Mingkai Jiang, Huili Feng, Zixin Chen, Wenjuan Wu, Aijun Xing, Chengrong Chen, Jordi Sardans, Yiqi Luo, Josep Peñuelas, Hans Lambers, Jingyun Fang, Zhengbing Yan
Abstract
Plant biomass and its allocation are fundamental for understanding biospheric matter production. However, the impacts of atmospheric phosphorus (P) deposition on species-specific biomass and its allocation in global terrestrial plants remain unclear. By synthesizing 5548 observations of plant biomass and its allocation related to P addition worldwide, we find that P addition increases plant biomass by an average of 35% globally. This increase varies across plant functional groups, with stronger responses in deciduous (45%), C3 (36%), and N2-fixing plants (54%) than in evergreen (28%), C4 (19%), and non-N2-fixing plants (31%), respectively. Plants possessing traits indicative of an acquisitive strategy, such as higher nutrient concentrations and specific leaf area, faster photosynthetic rates and shorter leaf lifespan, are particularly responsive to P addition. Furthermore, P addition promotes a greater allocation of biomass to aboveground than belowground organs, resulting in a 5% decrease in root-to-shoot ratio. Our findings provide global-scale quantifications of how P addition regulates biomass accumulation and allocation strategies in terrestrial plants, offering critical insights for predicting the response of terrestrial carbon storage to rising atmospheric P deposition. This study reveals that the varying responses of plant biomass to phosphorus addition across plant functional groups align with the leaf economics spectrum, with plants characterized by more acquisitive traits exhibiting stronger responses to phosphorus addition.