TY - JOUR AB - Groundwater-dependent vegetation (GDV) is useful as an indicator of watertable depth and water availability in north-western China. Nitrogen (N) is an essential limiting resource for growth of GDV. To elucidate how leaf N allocation and partitioning influence photosynthesis and photosynthetic N-use efficiency (PNUE), three typical GDV species were selected, and their photosynthesis, leaf N allocation and partitioning were investigated in the Taklamakan Desert. The results showed that Karelinia caspica (Pall.) Less. and Peganum harmala L. had lower leaf N content, and allocated a lower fraction of leaf N to photosynthesis. However, they were more efficient in photosynthetic N partitioning among photosynthetic components. They partitioned a higher fraction of the photosynthetic N to carboxylation and showed higher PNUE, whereas Alhagi sparsifolia Shap. partitioned a higher fraction of the photosynthetic N to light-harvesting components. For K. caspica and P. harmala, the higher fraction of leaf N was allocated to carboxylation and bioenergetics, which led to a higher maximum net photosynthetic rate, and therefore to a higher PNUE, water-use efficiency (WUE), respiration efficiency (RE) and so on. In the desert, N and water are limiting resources; K. caspica and P. harmala can benefit from the increased PNUE and WUE. These physiological advantages and their higher leaf-area ratio (LAR) may contribute to their higher resource-capture ability. © 2012 CSIRO. AU - Zhu, JT AU - Li, XY AU - Zhang, XM AU - Yu, Q AU - Lin, LS DA - 2012/03/12 DO - 10.1071/BT11181 EP - 67 JO - Australian Journal of Botany PY - 2012/03/12 SP - 61 TI - Leaf nitrogen allocation and partitioning in three groundwater-dependent herbaceous species in a hyper-arid desert region of north-western China VL - 60 Y1 - 2012/03/12 Y2 - 2024/03/28 ER -