Calcium plus magnesium indicates digestibility: the significance of the second major axis of plant chemical variation for ecological processes

• Published in: Ecology letters Vol. 21; no. 6; pp. 885 - 895
• Main Authors: Mládková, Pavla, Mládek, Jan, Hejduk, Stanislav, Hejcman, Michal, Pakeman, Robin J., Coulson, Tim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2018
• Subjects: asterids; biochemical polymorphism; Biomass; Calcium; Cations; Composition effects; dicots; Digestibility; digestion; Divalent cations; economics; Grasslands; Growth rate; leaf dry matter content; leaf economics spectrum; leaves; Liliopsida; Magnesium; monocots; Nitrogen; Nutrient concentrations; nutrient content; Phosphorus; Phylogeny; Plant Leaves; Plant Physiological Phenomena; Plants; rosids; rumen liquor; ruminants; structural equation modeling; Variation; leaf dry matter content; biomass; leaf economics spectrum; nitrogen; rumen liquor; rosids; dicots; asterids; monocots; phosphorus

Plant variation in nutrient concentrations encompasses two major axes. The first is connected to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), reflects growth rate and has been designated as the leaf economics spectrum (LES) while the second follows the gradient in calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) and mirrors cel...