Abstract
Plant communities on nutrient-poor soils are thought to use nutrients more efficiently to produce biomass than plant communities on nutrient-rich soils. Yet, increased efficiency with declining soil nutrients has not been demonstrated empirically in lowland tropical rain forests, where plant growth is thought to be strongly limited by soil nutrients, especially phosphorus (P). We tested for higher P uptake and use efficiency across a 16-fold soil P gradient in lowland Borneo by measuring the P content of aboveground net primary productivity (fine litter production plus new tree growth; ANPP) for 24 months. Extractable soil P was positively related to litter production, tree growth, and ANPP. Efficiency of P response (ANPP/available soil P), uptake (P uptake/available soil P), and use (ANPP/P uptake) increased monotonically with declining soil P and was significantly higher on P-rich soil than P-poor soil. Increased P uptake and use efficiency with declining soil P enabled higher than expected plant produc...
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