Table 3. The factor loading of elements in leaf, stem, root of desert shrubs on the principal components analysis (PCA) axes at species level (N = 194).

	Leaf			Stem			Root
	PC1	PC 2	PC 3	PC 1	PC 2	PC3	PC 1	PC 2	PC3
N	−0.163	0.910	0.081	−0.051	0.930	0.065	−0.122	0.009	0.893
P	−0.117	0.928	0.021	−0.029	0.920	0.015	−0.039	−0.003	0.909
K	−0.033	−0.010	0.705	−0.065	−0.018	0.733	0.019	0.900	−0.029
Na	0.029	0.127	0.676	0.099	0.076	0.855	−0.103	0.890	0.018
Ca	0.649	−0.184	−0.008	0.909	−0.112	0.078	0.897	0.065	−0.094
Mg	0.601	−0.233	0.340	0.794	0.034	0.387	0.602	0.671	−0.011
Mn	0.892	−0.046	−0.122	0.968	−0.034	−0.058	0.859	−0.014	−0.100
Zn	0.926	−0.032	−0.040	0.932	−0.099	−0.058	0.926	0.087	−0.136
Cu	0.529	−0.138	0.419	0.518	−0.314	0.137	0.526	0.236	−0.301
Fe	0.569	−0.029	−0.483	0.737	0.175	−0.231	0.633	−0.147	0.099
Total variation explained	30.8%	18.2%	15.0%	40.9%	18.7%	15.1%	34.7%	21.4%	17.6%