Abstract. Recent increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and temperature
relieve their limitations on terrestrial ecosystem productivity, while
nutrient availability constrains the increasing plant photosynthesis more
intensively. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are critical for plant
physiological activities and consequently regulate ecosystem productivity.
Here, for the first time, we mapped N and P densities and concentrations of
leaves, woody stems, roots, litter, and soil in forest, shrubland, and
grassland ecosystems across China based on an intensive investigation at
4868 sites, covering species composition, biomass, and nutrient
concentrations of different tissues of living plants, litter, and soil.
Forest, shrubland, and grassland ecosystems in China stored 6803.6 Tg N, with 6635.2 Tg N (97.5 %) fixed in soil (to a depth of 1 m) and
27.7 (0.4 %), 57.8 (0.8 %), 71.2 (1 %), and 11.7 Tg N (0.2 %) in leaves, stems, roots, and litter, respectively. The forest,
shrubland, and grassland ecosystems in China stored 2806.0 Tg P, with
2786.1 Tg P (99.3 %) fixed in soil (to a depth of 1 m) and 2.7 (0.1 %), 9.4 (0.3 %), 6.7 (0.2 %), and 1.0 Tg P (<
0.1 %) in leaves, stems, roots, and litter, respectively. Our estimation
showed that N pools were low in northern China, except in the Changbai Mountains,
Mount Tianshan, and Mount Alta, while relatively higher values existed in
the eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau and Yunnan. P densities in vegetation were
higher towards the southern and north-eastern part of China, while soil P density
was higher towards the northern and western part of China. The estimated N and P
density and concentration datasets, “Patterns of nitrogen and phosphorus
pools in terrestrial ecosystems in China”
(https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6hdr7sqzx), are available from the Dryad
digital repository (Zhang et al., 2021). These patterns of N and P densities
could potentially improve existing earth system models and large-scale
research on ecosystem nutrients.