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Aims <p>Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition profoundly affects subtropical forests regeneration, yet the organ-specific biogeochemical niche (BN) mechanisms—particularly how leaf-root stoichiometric coordination and niche differentiation jointly mediate seedling performance under N enrichment—remain unresolved.</p> Methods <p>We conducted a two-year N addition experiment on&#xa0;subtropical <i>Neolitsea polycarpa</i>&#xa0;seedlings, integrating: (1) organ-level C:N:P&#xa0;stoichiometry to quantify elemental coordination; (2) Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) to characterize BN differentiation strategies; and (3) multiple linear regression (MLR) models to link organ-specific discriminant axes to basal diameter and height increments.</p> Results <p>Excessive N addition overrode the beneficial effects of N enrichment on seedling performance. While leaf and root C:N:P stoichiometry maintained tight allometric coordination, organ-specific BN strategies diverged drastically along N addition gradients. Leaf BN exhibited gradient-sensitive differentiation, characterized by complete niche separation in the discriminant space and strong predictive power for seedling growth—explaining 54% of height and 69% of basal diameter growth increments. In contrast, root BN maintained conservative functional redundancy, characterized by persistent niche overlaps among adjacent N addition treatments and was functionally decoupled from immediate growth outcomes.</p> Conclusion <p>These findings advance BN theory for forest seedlings by demonstrating how organ-specific niche differentiation enables performance through functional complementarity: leaves optimize growth through precise stoichiometric regulation, while roots ensure survival via plasticity-mediated redundancy. This study establishes leaf stoichiometry as a superior bioindicator for predicting seedling performance, offering a mechanistic basis for assessing forest regeneration potential under global N enrichment.</p>

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Coordinated yet allometric leaf-root biogeochemical niche dynamics underlies divergent growth predictability under N addition

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年12月9日

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  • Xian-Meng Shi,
  • An-Xin Liu,
  • Yu-Xuan Mo,
  • Sujan Balami,
  • Jin-Hua Qi,
  • Yang Liu,
  • Zi-Yan Chen,
  • Liang Song

摘要

Aims

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition profoundly affects subtropical forests regeneration, yet the organ-specific biogeochemical niche (BN) mechanisms—particularly how leaf-root stoichiometric coordination and niche differentiation jointly mediate seedling performance under N enrichment—remain unresolved.

Methods

We conducted a two-year N addition experiment on subtropical Neolitsea polycarpa seedlings, integrating: (1) organ-level C:N:P stoichiometry to quantify elemental coordination; (2) Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) to characterize BN differentiation strategies; and (3) multiple linear regression (MLR) models to link organ-specific discriminant axes to basal diameter and height increments.

Results

Excessive N addition overrode the beneficial effects of N enrichment on seedling performance. While leaf and root C:N:P stoichiometry maintained tight allometric coordination, organ-specific BN strategies diverged drastically along N addition gradients. Leaf BN exhibited gradient-sensitive differentiation, characterized by complete niche separation in the discriminant space and strong predictive power for seedling growth—explaining 54% of height and 69% of basal diameter growth increments. In contrast, root BN maintained conservative functional redundancy, characterized by persistent niche overlaps among adjacent N addition treatments and was functionally decoupled from immediate growth outcomes.

Conclusion

These findings advance BN theory for forest seedlings by demonstrating how organ-specific niche differentiation enables performance through functional complementarity: leaves optimize growth through precise stoichiometric regulation, while roots ensure survival via plasticity-mediated redundancy. This study establishes leaf stoichiometry as a superior bioindicator for predicting seedling performance, offering a mechanistic basis for assessing forest regeneration potential under global N enrichment.