Leaf economic strategies drive global variation in phosphorus stimulation of terrestrial plant production

Nan Yang; Constantin M Zohner; Thomas W Crowther; Jiguang Feng; Jin Wu; Xinli Chen; Wenxuan Han; Benjamin D Stocker; Dafeng Hui; Laurent Augusto; Kai Yue; Enqing Hou; Mingkai Jiang; Huili Feng; Zixin Chen; Wenjuan Wu; Aijun Xing; Chengrong Chen; Jordi Sardans; Yiqi Luo; Josep Peñuelas; Hans Lambers; Jingyun Fang; Zhengbing Yan

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-60633-4

Leaf economic strategies drive global variation in phosphorus stimulation of terrestrial plant production

Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 1;16(1):5562. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60633-4.

Authors

Nan Yang^{1

2

3}, Constantin M Zohner⁴, Thomas W Crowther⁴, Jiguang Feng^{5

6}, Jin Wu^{7

8

9}, Xinli Chen¹⁰, Wenxuan Han¹¹, Benjamin D Stocker¹², Dafeng Hui¹³, Laurent Augusto¹⁴, Kai Yue¹⁵, Enqing Hou^{16

17}, Mingkai Jiang¹⁸, Huili Feng¹⁹, Zixin Chen^{1

2

3}, Wenjuan Wu^{1

2

3}, Aijun Xing^{1

2

3}, Chengrong Chen^{20

21}, Jordi Sardans^{22

23}, Yiqi Luo²⁴, Josep Peñuelas^{22

23}, Hans Lambers²⁵, Jingyun Fang^{26

27}, Zhengbing Yan^{28

29

30}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Forage Breeding-by-Design and Utilization; Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiangshan, Beijing, China.
² China National Botanical Garden, Beijing, China.
³ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yuquanlu, Beijing, China.
⁴ Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Universitätsstrasse 16, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁵ Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory for Grassland Ecology, and School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Huhhot, China.
⁶ National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Processes in Watershed, College of Geography and Remote Sensing, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
⁷ School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁸ Institute for Climate and Carbon Neutrality, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China.
¹¹ Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
¹² Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
¹³ Department of Biological Sciences, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹⁴ INRAE, Bordeaux Sciences Agro, ISPA, Villenave d'Ornon, France.
¹⁵ Key Laboratory for Humid Subtropical Eco-Geographical Processes of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
¹⁶ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany and Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
¹⁷ Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Plant Conservation and Utilization in Southern China, Guangzhou, China.
¹⁸ College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
¹⁹ Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics and Germplasm Innovation of Tropical Special Trees and Ornamental Plants, School of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry (School of Agricultural and Rural Affairs, School of Rural Revitalization), Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan, 570228, China.
²⁰ Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia.
²¹ School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia.
²² CSIC, Global Ecology Unit, CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
²³ CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
²⁴ Soil and Crop Sciences Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
²⁵ School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, WA, Australia.
²⁶ Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
²⁷ Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China.
²⁸ State Key Laboratory of Forage Breeding-by-Design and Utilization; Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiangshan, Beijing, China. zbyan@ibcas.ac.cn.
²⁹ China National Botanical Garden, Beijing, China. zbyan@ibcas.ac.cn.
³⁰ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yuquanlu, Beijing, China. zbyan@ibcas.ac.cn.

Abstract

Plant biomass and its allocation are fundamental for understanding biospheric matter production. However, the impacts of atmospheric phosphorus (P) deposition on species-specific biomass and its allocation in global terrestrial plants remain unclear. By synthesizing 5548 observations of plant biomass and its allocation related to P addition worldwide, we find that P addition increases plant biomass by an average of 35% globally. This increase varies across plant functional groups, with stronger responses in deciduous (45%), C₃ (36%), and N₂-fixing plants (54%) than in evergreen (28%), C₄ (19%), and non-N₂-fixing plants (31%), respectively. Plants possessing traits indicative of an acquisitive strategy, such as higher nutrient concentrations and specific leaf area, faster photosynthetic rates and shorter leaf lifespan, are particularly responsive to P addition. Furthermore, P addition promotes a greater allocation of biomass to aboveground than belowground organs, resulting in a 5% decrease in root-to-shoot ratio. Our findings provide global-scale quantifications of how P addition regulates biomass accumulation and allocation strategies in terrestrial plants, offering critical insights for predicting the response of terrestrial carbon storage to rising atmospheric P deposition.

MeSH terms

Biomass
Carbon / metabolism
Nitrogen / metabolism
Phosphorus* / metabolism
Phosphorus* / pharmacology
Photosynthesis
Plant Development*
Plant Leaves* / drug effects
Plant Leaves* / growth & development
Plant Leaves* / metabolism
Plant Roots / growth & development
Plant Roots / metabolism
Plant Shoots / growth & development
Plant Shoots / metabolism
Plants* / metabolism

Substances

Phosphorus
Carbon
Nitrogen

Abstract

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding