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Differences between Soil Ammonium and Nitrate Spatial Pattern in Six Plant Communities. Simulated Effect on Plant Populations

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Abstract

Geostatistical descriptions of soil heterogeneity patterns for plant communities are abundant in literature, however no effort has been done to compare spatial structure of different nutrients, and to look for a common pattern in different plant communities. Furthermore, there is no information on the consequences of different soil spatial patterns on resource availability for plant populations. Conditional simulations on the spatial distribution of soil NH4-N and NO3-N were carried out in order to study the effect of contrasted patch sizes on N availability for individuals with increasing root system size. The semivariogram range (an indication of patch size) for soil NH4-N and NO3-N in six plant communities was found to be very variable, and was higher for soil NH4-N than for soil NO3-N in each community. A positive correlation was observed between organic matter and NH4-N spatial ranges in the six plant communities, but not between NO3-N and NH4-N. Probabilities of finding a high soil N concentration within simulated plant populations depended on N patch size and root system size. Thus, a population taking up NH4-N (higher spatial range values) would be more heterogeneous (i.e. individuals will have differing probabilities of finding a high soil N concentration) than the same population taking up NO3-N. Likewise, a seedling population taking up NH4-N or NO3-N would be more heterogeneous than a large tree population in the same area, where individuals would have similar probability of finding a high soil N concentration. These results showed that the spatial patch size of limiting resources has important consequences at the population level, since it determines the probability of finding a favorable site, and therefore differing performances of individuals within a population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Animal Biology, University of Vigo, 36200, Vigo, Spain

    Antonio Gallardo, Rocio Paramá & Felisa Covelo

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain

    Felisa Covelo

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  1. Antonio Gallardo
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  2. Rocio Paramá
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  3. Felisa Covelo
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Correspondence to Antonio Gallardo.

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Gallardo, A., Paramá, R. & Covelo, F. Differences between Soil Ammonium and Nitrate Spatial Pattern in Six Plant Communities. Simulated Effect on Plant Populations. Plant Soil 279, 333–346 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-005-8552-7

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