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Leaf N and P stoichiometry of Tamarix chinensis L. in Laizhou Bay wetland, Shandong Province of East China.

RONG Qiang-qiang1,2, LIU Jing-tao2**, XIA Jiang-bao2, LU Zhao-hua1,2, GUO Cai-hong1,2   

  1. (1Institute of Restoration Ecology, College of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing 100083, China; 2Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Ec-Environmental Science for Yellow River Delta (Binzhou University), Binzhou 256603, Shandong, China)
  • Online:2012-12-10 Published:2012-12-10

Abstract: Taking Tamarix chinensis L. in Laizhou Bay wetland as test object, this paper analyzed the seasonal variations of the leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometry and their correlations with soil salt concentration. The leaf N and P contents and N/P ratio of T. chinensis ranged 18.39-32.86 g·kg-1, 1.02-3.16 g·kg-1, and 8.62-23.66, with a mean value of 25.74 g·kg-1, 1.75 g·kg-1, and 15.86, respectively. The seasonal variations of the leaf N and P contents presented a trend of decreasing first and increasing then, with a shape of “inverted parabola”, while an opposite trend was observed for the leaf N/P ratio. The growth of T. chinesis was limited by N at the beginning of the growth season (May), but by P in the middle and late stages of the growth season (July-October). There was a definite positive correlation between the leaf N content and soil salt concentration (P=0.063), a significant negative correlation between the leaf P content and soil salt concentration (P<0.05), and a very significant positive correlation between the leaf N/P ratio and soil salt concentration (P<0.01).