Differential patterns of nitrogen nutrition and growth cost of the indigenous and the introduced in the savannah environment.

fixes atmospheric nitrogen (N) and distributes it back into ecosystems. We hypothesize that biological nitrogen fixation in this plant species is limited by competition from the invasive shrub, . Competition would therefore result in the legume plant switching its limited nitrogen (N) sources in phosphorus-poor soils in savannah ecosystems when resources have to be shared. This study investigated the different patterns of N use and growth costs by a native and an introduced leguminous shrubby species. We propose that the two species sharing the same environment might result in competition. The competitive effect would induce in the indigenous legume to better utilize atmospheric-derived N modifying plant growth kinetics and plant mineral concentrations. Seedlings of were cultivated in natural soil inoculum with low levels of phosphorus (mg L ± SE) of 3.67 ± 0.88. The experiments were divided into two treatments where (i) seedlings of were subjected to competition by cultivating them together with seedlings of , and (ii) seedlings of were cultivated independently. Although was subjected to competition, the N-fixing bacteria that occupied the nodules was species, similar to plants not subjected to competition. Total plant biomass was similar between treatments although plants subjected to competition accumulated more below-ground biomass and showed higher carbon construction costs than plants growing individually. Total plant phosphorus and nitrogen decreased in seedlings of under competition, whereas no differences were observed in percent N derived from the atmosphere (%NDFA) between treatments. The specific nitrogen utilization rate (SNUR) was higher in plants subjected to competition while specific nitrogen absorption rate (SNAR) showed the opposite response. is highly adapted to nutrient-poor savannah ecosystems and can withstand competition from invasive shrubs by utilizing both atmospheric and soil nitrogen sources.