Different responses of ephemerals and annuals to nitrogen

Biomass allocation patterns are important to ecosystem carbon cycles, and differ among species and in response to nutrient availability. Zhou et al. examine responses of ephemeral and annual plant species to different levels of nitrogen application in a desert environment, and find that compared to annuals, ephemerals grow more rapidly, increase shoot and root biomass with increasing nitrogen application rates and significantly decrease root/shoot quotients. However, an isometric log shoot vs. log root scaling relationship is maintained across all species. The results contribute to understanding how native species respond to N pollution and highlight that different life history strategies respond differently to nitrogen application.