Soil properties determine the elevational patterns of base cations and micronutrients in the plant–soil system up to the upper limits of trees and shrubs

Wang, Ruzhen; Wang, Xue; Jiang, Yong; Cerdà, Artemi; Yin, Jinfei; Liu, Heyong; Feng, Xue; Shi, Zhan; Dijkstra, Feike A.; Li, Mai-He

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1763-2018

Articles | Volume 15, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1763-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1763-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 6

Research article

|

26 Mar 2018

Research article |

| 26 Mar 2018

Soil properties determine the elevational patterns of base cations and micronutrients in the plant–soil system up to the upper limits of trees and shrubs

Ruzhen Wang, Xue Wang, Yong Jiang, Artemi Cerdà, Jinfei Yin, Heyong Liu, Xue Feng, Zhan Shi, Feike A. Dijkstra, and Mai-He Li

Download

Final revised paper (published on 26 Mar 2018)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 04 Aug 2017)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

- Printer-friendly version

- Supplement

RC1: 'comment about Wang et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 18 Aug 2017
- AC1: 'Response to Review #1', Ruzhen Wang, 16 Nov 2017
- AC2: 'Response to Reviewer #2', Ruzhen Wang, 16 Nov 2017
RC2: 'comments to Wang et al.', Anonymous Referee #2, 21 Oct 2017
- AC2: 'Response to Reviewer #2', Ruzhen Wang, 16 Nov 2017

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (25 Nov 2017) by Michael Bahn

AR by Ruzhen Wang on behalf of the Authors (04 Dec 2017)

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (06 Dec 2017) by Michael Bahn

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (05 Jan 2018)

RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (19 Jan 2018)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Base cations and micronutrients were measured in soils and different tissues of trees and shrubs at low, mid and high elevation locations across three sites (mountains) in China. Hypotheses were made predicting higher soil and plant tissue nutrient concentrations with elevation, for which the authors found little support. Though clearly written, I have several issues with the study:

1. The study objectives in the Introduction do not seem aligned with the methods and analysis. For example, it is noted that changes in forest canopy with elevation may influence soil nutrients. However, this is not measured. All samples seem to be taken under a canopy of some sort, so I am unclear how 'forest cover' is tested? There is no mention of the importance of life-form in the Introduction, yet it is a factor in the statistical analyses. There should be some rationale for why life-form is investigated. There is no rationale provided for why nutrient concentrations should vary among roots, leaves, shoots and stem sapwood. Overall the methods and results feel disconnected from the Introduction of the manuscript.

2. The analyses need clarification and likely a re-do. I think the study is a randomized block design with 'mountain' as the block. Typically block is not a factor of interest and is used to reduce error variance. But the authors report on differences among sites. I may be misinterpreting the design, but there is not much description in the methods. I assume that 'site' is of interest to the authors (though in the methods it sounds like it is not), so perhaps a better approach would be to run it as a generalized linear mixed model with elevation, life form as fixed factors and site as a random factor. I counted 32 dependent variables. I am concerned about Type 1 errors with the current analysis. Finally, I don't think the hypotheses outlined in the Introduction are adequately tested by a series of correlations. Inferring process from a series of poorly justified correlations is a weak analysis. Perhaps structural equation modelling may be helpful in this context?

Detailed comment bubbles are included on the attached pdf.

Referee Report: PDF

Hide

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (28 Jan 2018) by Michael Bahn

AR by Ruzhen Wang on behalf of the Authors (11 Feb 2018) Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (17 Feb 2018) by Michael Bahn

RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (23 Feb 2018)

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (02 Mar 2018) by Michael Bahn

AR by Ruzhen Wang on behalf of the Authors (03 Mar 2018) Manuscript

Download

Article (3799 KB)
Full-text XML

Short summary

Our results highlight the importance of soil physicochemical properties (mainly SOC, C : N, and pH) rather than elevation (i.e., canopy cover and environmental factors, especially temperature) in determining base cation and micronutrient availabilities in soils and subsequently their concentrations in plant tissues.