The possibility of using the elemental compositions of species as a tool to identify species/genotype niche remains to be tested at a global scale. We investigated relationships between the foliar elemental compositions (elementomes) of trees at a global scale with phylogeny, climate, N deposition and soil traits. We analysed foliar N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S concentrations in 23,962 trees of 227 species. Shared ancestry explained 60–94% of the total variance in foliar nutrient concentrations and ratios whereas current climate, atmospheric N deposition and soil type together explained 1–7%, consistent with the biogeochemical niche hypothesis which predicts that each species will have a specific need for and use of each bio-element. The remaining variance was explained by the avoidance of nutritional competition with other species and natural variability within species. The biogeochemical niche hypothesis is thus able to quantify species-specific tree niches and their shifts in response to environmental changes.

使用物种的元素组成作为识别物种/基因型生态位的工具的可能性仍有待在全球范围内进行测试。我们研究了全球范围内树木的叶面元素组成（元素组）与系统发育、气候、氮沉降和土壤性状之间的关系。我们分析了 227 个物种的 23,962 棵树的叶面 N、P、K、Ca、Mg 和 S 浓度。共同祖先解释了叶面养分浓度和比率总变异的 60-94%，而当前气候、大气氮沉降和土壤类型共同解释了 1-7%，这与预测每个物种都有特定需求的生物地球化学生态位假说一致每种生物元素的用途。剩余的差异可以通过避免与其他物种的营养竞争和物种内的自然变异来解释。因此，生物地球化学生态位假说能够量化特定物种的树木生态位及其响应环境变化的变化。