Responses of differences in iron and manganese partitioning patterns within and among organs on legume biomass in limestone and sandstone areas

Responses of differences in iron and manganese partitioning patterns within and among organs on legume biomass in limestone and sandstone areas

In consideration of the poor correlation between soil and plant nutrient levels, biogeochemists often focus on nutrient stoichiometry, which is mostly used in ecology to indicate the limitation of nutrients in environments. The previous work indicated that the studies of nutrient cycles must go beyond linkage between environmental conditions and plant nutrient concentrations to consider plant internal processes such as growth and nutrient stoichiometry. The plant species composition in calcareous soils with higher pH, generally to be considered P-limited conditions, is expected to differ from that in acidic soils. Many vascular plant species are unable to colonize limestone soils. Thus, floristic composition and soil properties of adjacent limestone and sandstone altitudinal gradients differ greatly in Southwest China. Until now, mechanisms regulating this differing ability of plants to colonize limestone sites have not been elucidated. It is reported that the inability of many plants to establish in limestone sites seems to be related to a low capacity of such plants to solubilize phosphate from these soils. It is reported that the toxicity of manganese and the deficiency of iron were also closely correlated with floristic compositions. We focus on whether similar trends of nutrient distributions occur across different experimental plots during legume growing,