Different nitrogen acquirement and utilization strategies might determine the ecological competition between ferns and angiosperms.

The different nutritional strategies employed by ferns and angiosperms mainly depended on the effects of phylogenetic and evolutionary diversity. Ferns tend to adopt an opportunistic strategy of limiting growth rate to reduce N demand and store more pooled nitrate, whereas angiosperms likely utilize N nutrition to ensure as much development as possible under low N stress. Identifying the effects of mineral nutrition on the evolutionary results of ecological competition between plant species remains a challenge.