Nitrogen and phosphorus resorption in trees of a neotropical rain forest

Abstract

In lowland tropical and temperate forests, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) resorption from senesced leaves may reflect a mechanism of conservation of a limiting nutrient (Edwards & Grubb 1982, Killingbeck 1996, Proctor et al. 1989, Scott et al. 1992, Songwe et al. 1997, Vitousek & Sanford 1986). At the ecosystem level it has important implications for element cycling. The nutrients which are resorbed during leaf senescence are directly available for further plant growth, which makes a species less dependent on current nutrient uptake. Nutrients which are not resorbed, however, will be circulated through litterfall in the longer term (Aerts 1996).