University Libraries Publications and Scholarship
ORCID
Joshua Doby: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1429-6928
Carolina Siniscalchi: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3349-5081
Mariela Pajuelo: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6975-9814
John Krigbaum: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3113-7061
Douglas Soltis:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8638-4137
Robert Guralnick: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6682-1504
Ryan Folk: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5333-9273
Abstract
Nitrogen (N)-fixing symbiosis is critical to terrestrial ecosystems, yet possession of this trait is known for few plant species. Broader presence of the symbiosis is often indirectly determined by phylogenetic relatedness to taxa investigated via manipulative experiments. This data gap may ultimately underestimate phylogenetic, spatial, and temporal variation in N-fixing symbiosis. Still needed are simpler field or collections-based approaches for inferring symbiotic status. N-fixing plants differ from non-N-fixing plants in elemental and isotopic composition, but previous investigations have not tested predictive accuracy using such proxies. Here we develop a regional field study and demonstrate a simple classification model for fixer status using nitrogen and carbon content measurements, and stable isotope ratios (δ15N and δ13C), from field-collected leaves. We used mixed models and classification approaches to demonstrate that N-fixing phenotypes can be used to predict symbiotic status; the best model required all predictors and was 80–94% accurate. Predictions were robust to environmental context variation, but we identified significant variation due to native vs. non-native (exotic) status and phylogenetic affinity. Surprisingly, N content—not δ15N—was the strongest predictor, suggesting that future efforts combine elemental and isotopic information. These results are valuable for understudied taxa and ecosystems, potentially allowing higher-throughput field-based N-fixer assessments.
Publisher
nature portfolio
First Page
20065
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-70412-8
Publication Date
8-2024
College
University Libraries
Disciplines
Botany
Recommended Citation
Doby, J.R., Siniscalchi, C.M., Pajuelo, M. et al. Elemental and isotopic analysis of leaves predicts nitrogen-fixing phenotypes. Sci Rep 14, 20065 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-70412-8
Comments
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.