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A Non-Soil Seed Bank Dependent on the Size of Clonal Plants : The Case of Carex cespitosa, a Guerrilla Species in an Unmown Meadow

Borkowska L., Lembicz M., Kasprzykowski Z.

Polish Journal of Ecology

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2017

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Vol. 65, nr 2

258--268

EN

Long-lived clonal plants provide an optimal place for the natural storage of seeds as a ‘non-soil seed bank’. We tested the hypothesis that the size and species diversity of a non-soil seed bank deposited within the clonal plant Carex cespitosa depends mainly on the plant's size. To verify this hypothesis, an experiment was conducted on an unmown meadow in the Białowieża National Park. The emerging seedlings of different species originating from C. cespitosa tussocks of different size (large and small) were observed under greenhouse conditions for four years. The size of a non-soil seed bank was evaluated based on the number of seedlings. Significant differences in the seedling number were found between large and small sedge tussocks (Mann-Whitney test Z = 3.96, P < 0.001). However, the number of recorded species was independent of tussock size. Both types of tussocks were dominated by meadow, forest and swamp species (in decreasing order). Some of these species are no longer present in the studied area, or their occurrence is limited to small groups at the meadow's edges. A non-soil seed bank within the tussock cores of C. cespitosa may be, similar to a soil seed bank, a tool for studying the changes occurring in plant communities.

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Adaptive significance of and factors affecting plasticity of biomass allocation and rhizome morphology; a case study of the clonal plant Scirpus planiculmis (Cyperaceae)

Ning Y., Zhang Z. X., Cui L. J., Zou C. L.

Polish Journal of Ecology

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2014

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Vol. 62, nr 1

77--88

EN

In plants, biomass allocation and rhizome morphological plasticity reflect different strategies of adaptation to the environment. The aims of this study were to explore the patterns of allocation to different components of the belowground system, and to evaluate the effects of environmental factors on the plasticity of biomass allocation and rhizome morphology. We conducted a survey of the clonal plant, Scirpus planiculmis, in the Momoge wetland in northeastern China. Samples were collected at three sites. Site I is the washland of a seasonal lake. Site II is a permanent lake. Site III belongs to the bank of a recessive river. The average number of sampled plants was 686.25±91.61 per site. We determined the biomass of different plant parts (aboveground part, root, tuber, rhizome) and measured parameters of rhizome morphology (specific rhizome length, average rhizome diameter). Edaphic factors (soil moisture content, organic matter, available phosphorus, available potassium, pH, electrical conductivity) were included as environmental variables. Differences in biomass allocation patterns were analyzed and multiple regression analyses were used to construct a model. The results showed that the structure of the belowground system varied significantly among the three sites. (1) The tubers accounted for the largest share of biomass in plants at site I; (2) plants at site III showed significantly longer rhizomes than those of plants at site II, while the plants at site II showed larger rhizome diameter; (3) pH was the crucial factor affecting biomass allocation and rhizome morphology, and was negatively correlated with root biomass of S. planiculmis. Based on these results, we concluded that: (1) greater resource allocation to the storage organ (tuber) reflects a conservative strategy to avoid damage and to maintain the potential for recolonization in a frequently disturbed habitat; (2) the morphological plasticity of the rhizome increases the ability of the clone to acquire resources. Shorter rhizomes enable rapid colonization of the habitat and efficient resource use under strong competition pressure, while longer rhizomes are useful to explore new habitats when local resources are insufficient. Our results suggest that ecological niche of S. planiculmis should be reconsidered. It may be more appropriate to classify S. planiculmis as a facultative salt-alkali plant, although a degree of tolerance to salinity and alkalinity is important for the initial formation of a population.

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Variation of sexual and clonal reproduction in Eremosparton songoricum (Litv.) (Fabaceae) on drought in arid regions : an experimental approach

Wang J., Shi X., Yin L., Zhang D.

Polish Journal of Ecology

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2012

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Vol. 60, nr 1

145-152

EN

Clonal plants combine sexual and clonal reproduction, which contribute differently to plant fitness. We investigated the consequence of natural selection on the two reproductive modes and the ecological factors that affect the reproductive modes of Eremosparton songoricum (Litv.) Vass. in order to understand the reproductive strategies of a clonal plant and the relationship between sexual and clonal reproduction. Morphological characteristics and biomass allocation patterns were m easured and compared at the clonal fragment level in two natural populations (riverside population A and hinterland population B) in the Gurbantunggut Desert, China. The flowering plant ratio, inflorescence number per plant, flower number per raceme, fruit number, mass of 100 seeds, root biomass, fruit biomass and ramet height were significantly higher, whereas fruit set, ramet density, rhizome biomass and length, and root number were significantly lower, in population A compared with those in population B. We estimated that the importance of clonal reproduction varies in two populations of E. songoricum, and the investment adjustment in the two reproductive modes may be based on cost required for each new plant to generate the more survival progeny in the plant life time.

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Effects of nutrient availability and competition between two grass species Leymus chinensis (Trin) Tzvel. and Phragmites communis Trin. on the plant performance

Ba L., Xiao N., Xu W., Wang D.

Polish Journal of Ecology

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2008

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Vol. 56, nr 3

453-462

EN

Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel., a perennial grass, is a dominant species from arid to semi-arid steppes in northern China and eastern Mongolia. Phragmites communis Trin. is also a perennial grass, and is distributed widely in the world. In the natural grasslands of northeastern China, both species always co-exist as co-dominating species due to their common characteristics such as propagation both by seeds and vegetative reproduction. Replacement series experiments were used to test the effects of nutrient availability and competitive interaction on the growth performance of two clonal plant species. The experimental treatments included five nutrient levels (3.6, 7.2, 10.8, 14.4 and 18.0 kg organic matter per pot, 20 cm diameter and 15 cm deep) and five species proportions (20:0, 16:4, 10:10, 4:16 and 0:20 for L. chinensis and P. communis, respectively) with twenty tillers in total per pot. Each treatment had 10 replications. Growth characteristics including tiller height, tiller number, plant biomass, rhizome length and bud number of plants in monoculture and mixture culture were recorded and compared to examine the effects of nutrient and competitive interaction on the plant performance. The growth of L. chinensis and P. communis in mixture was influenced by the nutrient availability and competition, which depended on the combination between nutrient level and species proportion. The results implied that the intensity of competition should be lower in nutrient-poor habitats when the co-existing species demanded on the same limiting resource. P. communis benefited from coexisting with L. chinensis, especially under nutrient-rich conditions. The aboveground relative yield (RY[above]) expressed in units of tiller height, dry biomass and daughter tiller number was recommended as an effective and simple index to predict the relative competitive ability for clonal plants. It was based on the regression for (RY[above] and RY[above] (the belowground relative yield) against RY (relative yield), measured as yield in mixture divided by that in monoculture.