Toward a mechanistic modeling of nitrogen limitation on vegetation dynamics

Such an approach does not consider how patterns of nitrogen allocation may change with differences in light intensity, growing-season temperature and CO² concentration. To account for this known variability in nitrogen-photosynthesis relationships, we develop a mechanistic nitrogen allocation model based on a trade-off of nitrogen allocated between growth and storage, and an optimization of nitrogen allocated among light capture, electron transport, carboxylation, and respiration.

The developed model is able to predict the acclimation of photosynthetic capacity to changes in CO² concentration, temperature, and radiation when evaluated against published data of Vc,max (maximum carboxylation rate) and Jmax (maximum electron transport rate). A sensitivity analysis of the model for herbaceous plants, deciduous and evergreen trees implies that elevated CO² concentrations lead to lower allocation of nitrogen to carboxylation but higher allocation to storage.