Nitrogen concentrations in boreal and temperate tree tissues vary with tree age/size, growth rate, and climate

作者：Martin Thurner, Martin Thurner, Kailiang Yu, Stefano Manzoni, Anatoly Prokushkin, Melanie A. Thurner, Melanie A. Thurner, Zhiqiang Wang, Thomas Hickler · 发表于：Biogeosciences · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.5194/bg-22-1475-2025 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Forest ecology and management、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics、Fire effects on ecosystems

Abstract. Photosynthesis, growth, and plant maintenance respiration are closely related to tree tissue nitrogen (N) concentrations. While earlier studies of the variation in tissue N concentrations and underlying controls have mostly focused on leaves, here we identify the large-scale controls of N concentration in other tree compartments for the first time. This is achieved by constructing and analysing a novel database of N concentrations in stems, roots, and branches covering all common Northern Hemisphere boreal and temperate tree genera, combined with data for leaves mostly from existing databases. This database allows us to explore the large-scale abiotic (climate, soil N concentration) and biotic controls (tree age/size, leaf type, growth rate) of tree tissue N concentration. We find that N concentrations decrease with increasing tree age (or size) and are significantly higher in deciduous compared to evergreen trees in all tissues. Low growth rates or unfavourable climate conditions (very cold or dry climate) significantly decrease leaf (the latter only for needleleaf deciduous and needleleaf evergreen trees) but not stem N concentration, indicating their effects on N allocation. Plant traits and environmental conditions together explain very large parts of the variation in tissue N concentrations. These results suggest that changes in the distribution of tree age/size, species, and extreme climate, induced by climate change, forest management, or disturbances, will h...