Leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations are critical to plant metabolic processes and growth. Understanding the contribution of climate and soil nutrients on leaf nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations across plant life-forms (trees, shrubs, and herbs) remains incomplete, especially along elevational gradients. To investigate these effects, we combined data from the Plant Trait (TRY) database, containing 528 species distributions, with elevation, climate and soil information for each study site. Results show that leaf N and P content were significantly correlated with elevation (P < 0.05). The explanatory ability of altitude for changes in N (R² = 0.40) and P (R² = 0.21) content in herb leaves is greater than that in trees (R² < 0.1). The explanatory ability of elevation for changes in P content (R² = 0.26) in shrub leaves is higher than that of N content (R² = 0.12). Furthermore, leaf P was more strongly associated with mean annual precipitation and mean annual temperature. Soil C:N and soil pH were significantly correlated with leaf N and P content, but their ability to explain elevational patterns in leaf N and P was limited. Overall, in leaves, P is more susceptible to environmental influences than N. These findings reveal differences in nutrient cycling and physiological regulation of N and P among different plant forms.

叶片氮（N）和磷（P）的浓度对于植物代谢过程和生长至关重要。了解气候和土壤养分对整个植物生命形式（树木，灌木和草本植物）叶片氮和磷浓度的贡献仍然不完整，尤其是沿海拔梯度。为了研究这些影响，我们结合了来自植物特征（TRY）数据库的数据，该数据包含528种物种分布，以及每个研究地点的海拔，气候和土壤信息。结果表明，叶片氮和磷含量与海拔高度显着相关（P  <0.05）。海拔变化对 草本植物叶片N（R ²  = 0.40）和P（R ² = 0.21）含量的解释能力要大于树木（R ² <0.1）。海拔对 灌木叶片中P含量（R ² = 0.26）变化的解释能力高于N含量（R ²  = 0.12）。此外，叶片P与年平均降水量和年平均温度之间的相关性更强。土壤C：N和pH值与叶片N和P含量显着相关，但它们解释叶片N和P的高程模式的能力有限。总体而言，在叶片中，磷比氮更易受环境影响。这些发现揭示了不同植物形态之间氮和磷的养分循环以及生理调节的差异。