1 Divergence of above and belowground C and N pool within predominant plant 2 species along two precipitation gradients in North China 3 4 X. H. Ye1, Xu Pan1, 5, William K. Cornwell2, 4, S. Q. Gao1, Ming Dong1, 3* and J. H.C. 5 Cornelissen2 6 1 State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, 7 Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China 8 2 Systems Ecology, Department of Ecological Science, VU University, Amsterdam, De 9 Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands 10 3 Key Laboratory of Hangzhou City for Ecosystem Protection and Restoration, 11 College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 12 310036, China 13 4 School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South 14 Wales, Sydney, Australia 15 5 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China 16 17 Author contributions: MD directed, coordinated and funded this study with 18 intellectual input from JHCC, WKC and XY; XY, XP, SG and MD carried out the fieldwork 19 and lab analyses; XY, WKC and JHCC did the data analysis and wrote the first manuscript 20 draft. All authors commented on the manuscript and consent with the submitted 21 version. 22 *corresponding author; e-mail:
[email protected] 23 Running title: Divergence of above- and belowground C and N pool along 24 precipitation gradients 25 1 26 ABSTRACT 27 The coupling of carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle drives food web structure and 28 biogeochemistry of an ecosystem. However, across precipitation gradients, there may be 29 a shift in C pool and N pool from above- to below-ground because of shifting plant 30 stoichiometry and allocation.