Global pattern of leaf litter nitrogen and phosphorus in woody plants

Hongzhang Kang , Zaijun Xin , Björn Berg , Paul J. Burgess , Qunlu Liu , Zhicheng Liu , Zhaohua Li , Chunjiang Liu

Forest ecosystems exert an important influence on global biogeochemical cycles. A global dataset of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations in leaf-litter of woody plants was compiled from the literature. Among the 677 data sets, 482 included P concentrations and the N:P ratio. * At a global scale, the mean leaf-litter N and P and N:P ratio were 10.9 mg g-1, 0.85 mg g-1 and 18.3, respectively. Leaf-litter N and P were significantly correlated. When the data was grouped by continents, the highest mean N was found in Africa (19.5 mg g-1), and the lowest in North America (8.18 mg g-1). P was significantly smaller in the Asian Islands (Japan and Malaysia, 0.44 mg g-1) than on the Asian mainland. For the global dataset, leaf-litter N increased linearly with mean annual temperature and annual precipitation and decreased with latitude. Although leaf-litter P showed no significant relationship with temperature, it declined linearly with precipitation and there was a convex quadratic relationship with latitude. For the global dataset and also for different functional groups (e.g. shrubs, evergreen broadleaf, deciduous broadleaf, and conifers) the leaf-litter N:P ratio generally followed a positive linear relationship with temperature and precipitation, and showed a concave quadratic response with latitude. * The differences in leaf-litter N:P ratio among functional groups and among continents should be taken into account when modeling biogeochemical cycles in different regions as well as on a global scale.

Mots clés: nitrogen; phosphorus; woody plants; leaf-litter; climate

Domaines: Sylviculture, foresterie

Hongzhang Kang, Zaijun Xin, Björn Berg, Paul J. Burgess, Qunlu Liu, et al.. Global pattern of leaf litter nitrogen and phosphorus in woody plants. Annals of Forest Science, 2010, 67 (8), ⟨10.1051/forest/2010047⟩. ⟨hal-00883605⟩