Low Carbon Costs of Nitrogen Fixation in Tropical Dry Forests

Abstract:

Legume tree species with the ability to fix nitrogen (N) are highly diverse and widespread across tropical forests but in particular in the dry tropics. Their ecological success in lower latitudes has been called a “paradox”: soil N in the tropics is thought to be high, while acquiring N through fixation incurs high energetic costs. However, the long held assumptions that N fixation is limited by photosynthate and that N fixation penalizes plant productivity have rarely been tested, particularly in legume tree species. We show results from three different experiments where we grew eleven species of tropical dry forest legumes. We quantified plant biomass and N fixation using nodulation and the ¹⁵N natural isotope abundance (Ndfa or nitrogen derived from fixation). These data show little evidence for costs of N fixation in seedlings grown under different soil fertility, light regimes, and with different microbial communities. Seedling productivity did not incur major costs because of N fixation: indeed, the average slope between Ndfa and biomass was positive (range in slopes: -0.03 to 0.3). Moreover, foliar N, which varied among species, was tightly constrained and not correlated with Ndfa. This finding implies that legume species have a target N that does not change depending on N acquisition strategies. The process of N fixation in tropical legumes may be more carbon efficient than previously thought. This view is more consistent with the hyperabundance of members of this family in tropical ecosystems.