Plant Multi-element Coupling as an Indicator of Nutritional Mismatches Under Global Change

Abstract

Global biogeochemical cycles have been widely altered due to human activities, potentially compromising the ability of plants to regulate their metabolism. We grew experimental herbaceous communities simulating the understory of eucalypt forests from southeastern Australia to evaluate the effects of elevated CO2 (400 vs. 650 ppm) and changes in soil resource availability (high-low water and high-low P) on the concentration of fourteen essential plant macro- and micronutrients, and their degree of coupling. Coupling was based on correlations among all elements in absolute value and a null modeling approach. According to the ancient nature of Australian soils, P addition was the main driver of changes in plant tissue chemistry, increasing the concentrations of P, Mg, Ca, and Mn and reducing the concentrations of C, N, S, Na, and Cu. Most treatment combinations showed coupled patterns of plant elements, particularly under ambient CO2. However, under elevated CO2, elements in plant tissues became more decoupled, which was interpreted as the result of a lack of enough supply of a range of elements to satisfy greater demands. Across treatments, P, Mn, and N were the least coupled elements, while K, Ca, and Fe were the most coupled ones. We provide evidence that plant element coupling was positively related to the concentration and coupling of elements measured in soils worldwide, suggesting that plant element coupling is conserved. Our results provide compelling evidence that evaluating the coupling of a representative range of chemical elements in plant tissues may represent a highly novel and powerful indicator of nutritional mismatches between demand and supply under specific environmental circumstances, including in a resource-altered global change context.