Morphological responses of six plant species to patchy habitat with different nitrogen concentrations using in-growth core methods

• Autorzy: Du, F. , Sui, Y. , Xu, X. , Zhang, X. , Hao, W. , Shao, M. , Hu, L. , Shan, L.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

Soil nutrient pattern can be a functional tool for grassland restoration. In order to promote the growth of a specific or group of expected plant species, it is necessary to measure the responses of different species to nutrient – rich patches and detect the differences among them. In this article, we measured aboveground biomass and morphological traits of six species as dry weight, length, surface area, specific root length and diameter of fine roots in response to nitrogen addition patches using ingrowth core method. The six species are Artemisia scoparia, Stipa bungeana, Artemisia sacrorum, Artemisia giraldii, Lespedeza dahurica and Astragalus melilotoides. All are the dominant species in different stages of secondary succession of loess hilly region, China. Twelve individuals of each species were selected to install ingrowth cores. Six of the individuals were used as treatment group, they were treated to install with four cores of no (addition’s control), low, medium and high levels of nitrogen additions. Another six of them were used as species’ control group, the four installed cores around them had no nitrogen addition. The results showed that: 1) After 105 days in situ, for all the six species, summed dry weight, length and surface area measured in the four cores of the treatment group were significantly greater than the corresponding values in species’ control group. In aboveground biomass, however, only A. scoparia in the treatment group had significantly outweighed that in the species’ control group. 2) Irrespective of nitrogen additions levels, significant differences of length, diameter and surface area existed among the six species, which implied that species had their intrinsic species specific morphological traits. 3) In dry weight, length and surface area, the responses of all the six species to nitrogen addition levels were positive, significantly more roots were grew into the cores with higher nitrogen additions; while in specific root length, the responses were negative. 4) Perhaps the six species had a special nitrogen requirement, as interaction effects of species and addition levels in surface area were found significant. 5) The foraging precision of the six species to nutrient-rich patches had positive but insignificant correlation with root system size; there existed a significant positive correlation between the precision and the sensitivity to the designed patchy habiats. 6) Among the six species, A. scoparia, A. sacrorum and S. bungeana have higher sensitivity and precision than L. dahurica and A. melilotoides in terms of foraging the nitrogen addition cores or patches. It seems that fast growing species that dominate in early successional stage, like A. scoparia and S. bungeana in our case, obtained more benefits from nutrient patchy habitat. We advised that, in infertile lands, fertiliser be applied in a patchy way to accelerate the restoration of old fields as early as possible once they were abandoned.

Słowa kluczowe

PL

plastyczność; plądrowanie; wrażliwość; siedlisko; różnorodność; odbudowa; gospodarka składnikami pokarmowymi; pole

EN

morphological response; plasticity; foraging precision; sensitivity; ingrowth core; patchy habitat; restoration; nutrient management; old field

• Czasopismo: Polish Journal of Ecology
• Rocznik: 2013
• Tom: Vol. 61, nr 2
• Strony: 257--269
• Opis fizyczny: Bibliogr. 27 poz., il.

Twórcy

autor

Du, F.

• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China,
• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Science, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

autor

Sui, Y.

• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China
• Present address: Water and Soil Conservation Research Institute of Jilin Province, Changchun, 130033, China

autor

Xu, X.

• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China
• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Science, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

autor

Zhang, X.

• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China
• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Science, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

autor

Hao, W.

• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

autor

Shao, M.

• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China
• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Science, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

autor

Hu, L.

• Yangling Vocational and Technical College, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

autor

Shan, L.

• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China
• Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Science, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

Bibliografia

• 1. Bazzaz F.A. 1979 - The physilogical ecology of plant succession - Ann. Rev. Eco. Syst. 10: 351-371.
• 2. Bliss K.M., Jones R.H., Mitchell R.J., Mou P.P. 2002 - Are competitive interactions influenced by spatial nutrient heterogeneity and root foraging behavior? - New Phytol. 154: 409-417.
• 3. Campbell B.D., Grime J.P., J.M.L. Mackey 1991 - A trade-off between scale and precision in resource foraging - Oecologia, 87: 532-538.
• 4. Casper B.B., Cahill J.F., R.B. Jackson 2000 - Plant competition in spatially heterogeneous environments (In : The Ecological Consequences of Environmental Heterogeneity, Eds: M.J. Hutchings, E.A. John, A.J.A. Stewart) - Blackwell Science, Oxford, pp. 111-130.
• 5. Du F., Liang Z.S., Xu X.X., Shan L., Zhang X.C. 2007 - Community biomass of abandoned farmland and its effects on soil nutrition in the Loess hilly region of Northern Shaanxi, China - Acta Ecologica Sinica, 27: 1673-1683.
• 6. Du F., Xu X.X., Zhang X.C., Shao M.A., Liang Z.S., Shan L. 2008 - The ordination of abandoned old-field communities and secondary succession rate, successional divergence or convergence in the Loess Hilly Region of Northern Shaanxi Province - Acta Ecologica Sinica, 28: 5418-5427.
• 7. Du F., Xu X.X., Zhang X.C., Shao M.A., Hu L.J., Shan L. 2012 - Responses of old-field vegetation to spatially homogenous or heterogenous fertilisation: implications for resources utilisation and restoration - Pol. J. Ecol. 60: 133-144.
• 8. Einsmann J.C., Jones R.H., Pu M., Mitchell R. J. 1999 - Nutrient foraging traits in ten co-occurring plant species of contrasting life forms - }. Ecol. 87: 609-619.
• 9. Eissenstat D.M., Yanai R.D. 1997 - The Ecology of root lifespan - Adv. Ecol. Res. 27: 1-60.
• 10. Farley R.A., Fitter A.H. 1999 - The responses of seven co-occurring woodland herbaceous perennials to localized nutrient-rich patches - J. Ecol. 87: 849-859.
• 11. Grime J.P. 1979 - Plant strategies and vegetation processes. New York, Wiley, 222 pp.
• 12. Grime J.P., Campbell B.D., Mackey J.M.L., Crick J.C. 1991 - Root plasticity, nitrogen capture and competitive ability (In: Plant root growth: an ecological perspective, Ed: D. Atkinson) - Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK, pp. 381-397.
• 13. Grime J.P., Crick J.C., Rincon J.E. 1986 - The ecological significance of plasticity (In: Plasticity in plants, Eds: D.H. Jennings, A.J. Trewavas) - Company of Biologists, Cam-bridge, UK, pp. 5-10.
• 14. Hodge A., Stewart J., Robinson D., Griffiths B.S., Fitter A.H. 1998 - Root proliferation, soil fauna and plant nitrogen capture from nutrient-rich patches in soil - New Phytol. 139:479-494.
• 15. Inagaki M., Inagaki Y., Kamo K., Titin J. 2009 - Fine-root production in response to nutrient application at three forest plantations in Sabah, Malaysia: higher nitrogen and phosphorus demand by Acacia mangium - J. For. Res. 14: 178-182.
• 16. Majdi H., Pregitzer K., More'n A.S., Nylund J.E., Ågren G. 2005 - Measuring fine root turnover in forest ecosystems - Plant Soil. 276: 1-8.
• 17. Moar S.E.L., Wilson S.D. 2005 - Root responses to nutrient patches in grassland and forest - Plant Ecol. 184: 157-162.
• 18. Mou P., Michell R.J., Jones R.H. 1997 - Root distribution of two tree species under a heterogenous environment - J. Appl. Ecol. 34: 645-656.
• 19. Raich J.W., Riley R.H., Vitousek P.M. 1994 - Use of root-ingrowth cores to assess nutrient limitations in forest ecosystems -Can. J. For. Res. 24: 2135-2138.
• 20. Robinson D. 1994 - The responses of plants to non-uniform supplies of nutrients - New Phytol. 127: 635-674.
• 21. Robinson D., van Vuuren M.M.I. 1998 - Responses of wild plants to nutrient patches in relation to growth rate and life-form (In: Variation in plant growth, Eds: H. Lambers, H. Poorter, M.M.I. Van Vuuren) - Leiden, Backhuys, Netherlands, pp. 237-257.
• 22. Sui Y.Y., Du F., Zhang X.C. 2011 - Spatial heterogeneity of available soil nutrients in abandoned old-field communities in the Loess Hilly Region - Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 20: 76-84.
• 23. Werner P. A. 1976 - Ecology of plant populations in successional environments - Systematic botany, 1: 246-268.
• 24. Wijesinghe D.K., Hutchings M.J. 1997 - The Effects of Spatial Scale of Environmental Heterogeneity on the Growth of a Clonal Plant: An Experimental Study with Glechoma Hederacea - J. Ecol. 85: 17-28.
• 25. Wijesinghe D.K., John E.A., Beurskens S., Hutchings M.J. 2001 - Root system size and precision in nutrient foraging: responses to spatial pattern of nutrient supply in six herbaceous species - J. Ecol. 89: 972-983.
• 26. Zhang H., Forde E.G. 1998 - An Arabidopsis MADS box gene that controls nutrient-induced changes in root architecture - Science, 279: 407-409.
• 27. Zhang H., Jennings A., Barlow P.W., Forde B.G. 1999 - Dual pathways for regulation of root branching by nitrate - P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 96: 6529-6534.