Concentrations and bioconcentration factors of leaf microelements in response to environmental gradients in drylands of China

Frontiers in Plant Science

Plant Science

Abraham Allan Degen¹  Jinzhi Ran²  Ying Sun²  Longwei Dong²  Jianming Deng²  Hailing Li²  Weigang Hu²  Junlan Xiong²  Shubin Xie²  Yahui Zhang²  Xiaoting Wang²  Muhammad Adnan Akram³ 

[1] Desert Animal Adaptations and Husbandry, Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel;State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems (SKLHIGA), College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China;State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems (SKLHIGA), College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China;School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China;

关键词: Northern China;    aridity;    leaf microelements;    bioconcentration factor;    indicator plant species;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpls.2023.1143442

 received in 2023-01-13, accepted in 2023-02-20,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Determining response patterns of plant leaf elements to environmental variables would be beneficial in understanding plant adaptive strategies and in predicting ecosystem biogeochemistry processes. Despite the vital role of microelements in life chemistry and ecosystem functioning, little is known about how plant microelement concentrations, especially their bioconcentration factors (BCFs, the ratio of plant to soil concentration of elements), respond to large-scale environmental gradients, such as aridity, soil properties and anthropogenic activities, in drylands. The aim of the present study was to fill this important gap. We determined leaf microelement BCFs by measuring the concentrations of Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu and Zn in soils from 33 sites and leaves of 111 plants from 67 species across the drylands of China. Leaf microelement concentrations were maintained within normal ranges to satisfy the basic requirements of plants, even in nutrient-poor soil. Aridity, soil organic carbon (SOC) and electrical conductivity (EC) had positive effects, while soil pH had a negative effect on leaf microelement concentrations. Except for Fe, aridity affected leaf microelement BCFs negatively and indirectly by increasing soil pH and SOC. Anthropogenic activities and soil clay contents had relatively weak impacts on both leaf microelement concentrations and BCFs. Moreover, leaf microelement concentrations and BCFs shifted with thresholds at 0.89 for aridity and 7.9 and 8.9 for soil pH. Woody plants were positive indicator species and herbaceous plants were mainly negative indicator species of leaf microelement concentrations and BCFs for aridity and soil pH. Our results suggest that increased aridity limits the absorption of microelements by plant leaves and enhances leaf microelement concentrations. The identification of indicator species for the response of plant microelements to aridity and key soil characteristics revealed that woody species in drylands were more tolerant to environmental changes than herbaceous species.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Zhang, Xie, Wang, Akram, Hu, Dong, Sun, Li, Degen, Xiong, Ran and Deng