N and P limitation of fynbos plants and the nutritional status of legume habitats in the Cape Floristic Region

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dc.contributor.advisorChimphango, S.B.M.en_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorCramer, Michael Den_ZA
dc.contributor.authorPotgieter, Gardia Purchaseen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-08-20T19:21:44Z
dc.date.available2014-08-20T19:21:44Z
dc.date.issued2013en_ZA
dc.description.abstractIn general, terrestrial ecosystems are limited by both N and P, but, as legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen, I hypothesized that fynbos legumes would be P limited and nonlegumes would be N limited, and that the degree to which these plants respond to N and P would depend on the levels of each of these two nutrients in the growth media. To test these hypotheses, three legumes and three non-legumes native to the fynbos were grown in a complete factorial arrangement of four levels of N and P in a glass house. Nitrogen was supplied at 20, 40, 80 and 150 mg kg-¹ soil and P at 0.8, 5, 15, and 31 mg kg-¹. Overall, the results showed that the responses of the legume and nonlegume species to N and P supply were species specific, but that the legume species seemed to be more limited by N supply than the non-legumes. There was no N x P interaction in this study, which implied that the plant response to N and P, did not depend on the levels of each other. Given the nitrogen fixing capabilities of legumes and high nutrient demanding lifestyle, I made the hypothesis that, on a given landscape, the soils on which the fynbos legumes occur were more nutrient rich than the bulk non-legume soils. Related to this hypothesis is the question of whether the more nutrient rich soils within the legume populations would be mirrored by leaves with both a higher specific leaf area and higher nutrient concentration, than the leaves of the non-legumes. To test these hypotheses, I determined the nutrient levels of both the soils and plants within both the legume- and non-legumes stands at eight different sites in the CFR. The data were subjected to multifactorial discriminant function analysis and Nested ANOVA analyses. The results of the analyses led to the conclusion that the soil on which legume stands occurred were rarely more fertile than the non-legumes on the landscape in the CFR, and, except for leaf N, there seemed to be no differences between leaf nutrient concentrations and the SLA of the legume and non-legume plants.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationPotgieter, G. P. (2013). <i>N and P limitation of fynbos plants and the nutritional status of legume habitats in the Cape Floristic Region</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6630en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationPotgieter, Gardia Purchase. <i>"N and P limitation of fynbos plants and the nutritional status of legume habitats in the Cape Floristic Region."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6630en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationPotgieter, G. 2013. N and P limitation of fynbos plants and the nutritional status of legume habitats in the Cape Floristic Region. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Potgieter, Gardia Purchase AB - In general, terrestrial ecosystems are limited by both N and P, but, as legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen, I hypothesized that fynbos legumes would be P limited and nonlegumes would be N limited, and that the degree to which these plants respond to N and P would depend on the levels of each of these two nutrients in the growth media. To test these hypotheses, three legumes and three non-legumes native to the fynbos were grown in a complete factorial arrangement of four levels of N and P in a glass house. Nitrogen was supplied at 20, 40, 80 and 150 mg kg-¹ soil and P at 0.8, 5, 15, and 31 mg kg-¹. Overall, the results showed that the responses of the legume and nonlegume species to N and P supply were species specific, but that the legume species seemed to be more limited by N supply than the non-legumes. There was no N x P interaction in this study, which implied that the plant response to N and P, did not depend on the levels of each other. Given the nitrogen fixing capabilities of legumes and high nutrient demanding lifestyle, I made the hypothesis that, on a given landscape, the soils on which the fynbos legumes occur were more nutrient rich than the bulk non-legume soils. Related to this hypothesis is the question of whether the more nutrient rich soils within the legume populations would be mirrored by leaves with both a higher specific leaf area and higher nutrient concentration, than the leaves of the non-legumes. To test these hypotheses, I determined the nutrient levels of both the soils and plants within both the legume- and non-legumes stands at eight different sites in the CFR. The data were subjected to multifactorial discriminant function analysis and Nested ANOVA analyses. The results of the analyses led to the conclusion that the soil on which legume stands occurred were rarely more fertile than the non-legumes on the landscape in the CFR, and, except for leaf N, there seemed to be no differences between leaf nutrient concentrations and the SLA of the legume and non-legume plants. DA - 2013 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2013 T1 - N and P limitation of fynbos plants and the nutritional status of legume habitats in the Cape Floristic Region TI - N and P limitation of fynbos plants and the nutritional status of legume habitats in the Cape Floristic Region UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6630 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/6630
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationPotgieter GP. N and P limitation of fynbos plants and the nutritional status of legume habitats in the Cape Floristic Region. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences, 2013 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6630en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Biological Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.titleN and P limitation of fynbos plants and the nutritional status of legume habitats in the Cape Floristic Regionen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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