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Environmental science

Nutrients in synergy

Nature volume 449, pages 1000–1001 (2007)Cite this article

A literature meta-analysis of the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus on plant growth prompts a thought-provoking inference — that the supply of, and demand for, these nutrients are usually in close balance.

The nutritional needs of plants start with carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, which they obtain from atmospheric gases and from water. They also require nitrogen (a constituent of all proteins) and phosphorus (not least as a component of nucleotides, including those in DNA and RNA). Writing in Ecology Letters, Elser and colleagues1 provide a timely contribution to our understanding of how nitrogen and phosphorus, both individually and in combination, affect primary producers such as crops, trees and algae.

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Figure 1: Nutrients and primary production.

References

  1. Elser, J. J. et al. Ecol. Lett. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01113.x (2007). | Article |

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eric A. Davidson is at the Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, Massachusetts 02540-1644, USA. edavidson@whrc.org ,

    Eric A. Davidson

  2. Robert W. Howarth is in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA. rwh2@cornell.edu,

    Robert W. Howarth

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  1. Eric A. Davidson
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  2. Robert W. Howarth
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Davidson, E., Howarth, R. Nutrients in synergy. Nature 449, 1000–1001 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/4491000a

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