Nitrogen fixation and metabolism by groundwater-dependent perennial plants in a hyperarid desert

Oecologia
S K ArndtMark Adams

Abstract

The Central Asian Taklamakan desert is characterized by a hyperarid climate with less than 50 mm annual precipitation but a permanent shallow groundwater table. The perched groundwater (2-16 m) could present a reliable and constant source of nitrogen throughout the growing season and help overcome temporal nitrogen limitations that are common in arid environments. We investigated the importance of groundwater and nitrogen fixation in the nitrogen metabolism of desert plants by assessing the possible forms and availability of soil N and atmospheric N and the seasonal variation in concentration as well as isotopic composition of plant N. Water availability was experimentally modified in the desert foreland through simulated flooding to estimate the contribution of surface water and temporally increased soil moisture for nutrient uptake and plant-water relations. The natural vegetation of the Taklamakan desert is dominated by plants with high foliar nitrogen concentrations (2-3% DM) and leaf nitrate reductase activity (NRA) (0.2-1 micromol NO2- g(-1) FW h(-1)). There is little evidence that nitrogen is a limiting resource as all perennial plants exhibited fast rates of growth. The extremely dry soil conditions preclude all but min...Continue Reading

References

Feb 17, 2001·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·D Robinson
Mar 10, 2001·Trends in Plant Science·R D Evans
Nov 1, 1991·Oecologia·James R EhleringerDarren R Sandquist
Dec 1, 1987·Ecology·Julio R Gutierrez, Walter G Whitford
Jun 1, 2002·Functional Plant Biology : FPB·Wolfgang WanekMarianne Popp

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Citations

Jun 29, 2010·Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies·Ana Dolores Santiago de FreitasHolm Tiessen
Feb 23, 2013·Science·Y FanG Miguez-Macho
Jan 1, 2014·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Bruce D DudleyRebecca Ostertag

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