Temperature drives the coordination between aboveground nutrient conservation and belowground nutrient acquisition in alpine coniferous forests

Aboveground nutrient conservation via resorption processes and belowground nutrient acquisition from soils are two important mechanisms for plants to maintain nutrition and ecosystem functions. However, the mechanism by which plants coordinate these two nutrient strategies, especially for ectomycorrhizal (ECM)-dominated conifers in alpine forests, remains unclear.
We investigated the relationships between aboveground nutrient conservation and belowground nutrient acquisition and their environmental drivers by measuring leaf nutrient (i.e., nitrogen [N] and phosphorous [P]) resorption efficiency, resource foraging- and uptake-related root morphological (root diameter [RD], specific root length [SRL]/area [SRA]) and physiological (root tissue density [RTD], root N and P concentration) traits, mycorrhizal colonization rate (MCR), rhizosphere effect on soil N and P cycling, and environmental factors of 40 ECM coniferous populations on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China.
Our results show tha..., This data set was collected in the alpine region of the eastern Tibetan Plateau, which spans a wide geographic range, from latitude 27.37 to 35.27° N, longitude 94.55 to 103.31° E, and with an altitude of 2562.0-4351.0 m a.s.l. Forty pure forest stands were selected for leaf, root, and soil collection in July and August 2017-2018. Specifically, we first set up three to five 30 m × 40 m experimental plots in each stand; then, in each plot, at least three mature and healthy individuals of a target conifer species were randomly selected for leaf and root collections. For each individual, three representative twigs from sun-exposed, first-order branches were collected from the mid to upper canopy using pole pruners, and then the fully expanded, current-year needles of each cohort were immediately detached from the twigs. Accordingly, freshly fallen leaf litter was collected under the canopy of the same individual in a similar position to that of the green leaves. Here, only the terminal two..., , Column, Entry, Description, Unit

* A, Site, Sample site,
* B, MAT, mean annual temperature, ℃
* C, MAP, mean annual precipitation, mm
* D, pH, Soil pH, wet and dry
* E, STC, Soil total carbon, g/kg
* F, STN, Soil total nitrogen, g/kg
* G, STP, Soil total phosphorus, g/kg
* H, NRE, Leaf N resorption efficiency, %
* I, PRE, Leaf P resorption efficiency, %
* J, RD, Root diameter, mm
* K, SRL, Specific root length, m/g
* L, SRA, Specific root area, cm2/g
* M, RTD, Root tissue density, g/cm3
* N, RNC, Root nitrogen concentration, g/kg
* O, RPC, Root phosphorus concentration, g/kg
* P, MCR, Mycorrhizal colonization rate, %
* Q, RE(NAG+LAP), \"Rhizosphere effect on N-mining related enzyme activity (i.e., β‐1,4‐N‐acetylglucosaminidase and leucine aminopeptidase)\", %
* R, REAP, \"Rhizosphere effect on P-mining related enzyme activity (i.e., acid phosphatase)\", %