Aims
Understanding ecological stoichiometry of plant nutrients and its relationship with vegetation succession in terrestrial ecosystems is largely limited to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Despite it being an important element for most grasses, silicon (Si) is usually ignored. We examined ecological stoichiometry of N:P:Si in grasslands.
Methods
We used leaf N, P and Si concentration, climate variables and phylogenic development, life forms, ecotypes, photosynthetic pathway to determine the relationship of N:P:Si ratio distribution with environmental conditions and the succession of grassland communities.
Results
The distribution of N, P and Si varied greatly among the seven types of China’s grasslands as influenced by environmental conditions (e.g. mean annual temperature – MAT) and plant species groups (e.g. phylogeny). Leaf N showed a significant positive correlation with P across all species, while N and P showed significant negative correlations with Si.
Conclusions
Si was less affected by grassland types than N and P. Environmental conditions such as MAT and MAP had a significant influence on the stoichiometry of N, P and Si in grasslands and that temperature had a greater influence than precipitation. The succession of grassland communities may respond to or be influenced by stoichiometry of N, P and Si.