CLONAL GROWTH OF FARGESIA NITIDA UNDER DIFFERENT CANOPY CONDITIONS IN A SUBALPINE DARK CONIFEROUS FOREST IN WOLONG NATURE RESERVE, CHINA

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2007.0082

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Fargesia nitida, one of the Giant Panda's main food sources, is adapted to varied canopy conditions through changes in morphology and/or biomass allocation. We hypothesized that changes in clonal regeneration may be another way for this plant to be adapted to different canopy conditions.
Methods From August to September 2005, we measured the number, size and rhizome size of new shoots and the age and size of the parent ramet in four canopy conditions: forest understory (FU), moderate gap (MG), large gap (LG) and forest edge wilderness (FEW) in an Abies faxoniana forest in Wolong Nature Reserve in the western Sichuan, China. The data were analyzed by One-Way ANOVA, independent-sample t-test and regression.
Important findings The density of surviving new shoots was lower in the FU than that in the other three canopy conditions. With decreasing canopy cover (i.e., from FU to MG to LG), the number of surviving new shoots per genet increased. At the ramet level, the mean height, basal diameter, and biomass of surviving new shoots and parent ramet were significantly different (p<0.01) and increased as canopy cover decreased. In the different canopy conditions, the number of new shoots cloned by two-year-old primary parent ramets was the largest, but mean ages of parent ramets were not significantly different. There were no significant differences in average number and basal diameter of surviving new shoots reproduced by primary parent ramets with different ages in the same environment. In each canopy condition, the basal diameter of primary and secondary parent ramets were both positively correlated with basal diameter of surviving new shoots, but the effect of the primary parent ramets on surviving new shoots was stronger than that of the secondary parent ramets. The rhizome diameter of new shoots was positively correlated with the basal diameter of new shoots and primary parent ramet, but the rhizome length of surviving new shoots was not significantly correlated with basal diameter of the primary parent ramet. These results indicated that the clonal growth features exhibited significant differences strongly correlated with canopy conditions.

Key words: Fargesia nitida, parent ramet size, parent ramet age, clonal growth, subalpine dark coniferous forest, Wolong Nature Reserve

SONG Li-Xia, TAO Jian-Ping, RAN Chun-Yan, YU Xiao-Hong, WANG Yong-Jian, LI Yuan. CLONAL GROWTH OF FARGESIA NITIDA UNDER DIFFERENT CANOPY CONDITIONS IN A SUBALPINE DARK CONIFEROUS FOREST IN WOLONG NATURE RESERVE, CHINA[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2007, 31(4): 637-644.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2007.0082

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2007/V31/I4/637

Figures/Tables 6

Fig.1 The traits of surviving new shoots of Fargesia nitida in the four different canopy conditions (Means±SE) The bars sharing the same letters are not different at p=0.05 FU:林下 Forest understory MG:中林窗 Middle gap LG:大林窗 Large gap FEW:林缘旷地 Forest edge wilderness

Table 1 The traits of parent ramet of Fargesia nitida in the four different canopy conditions (Means±SE)

项目Item	FU	MG	LG	FEW	F
CH (m)	2.699±0.046^D	3.441±0.084^B	3.763±0.097^A	3.236±0.078^C	34.359^**
BD(cm)	0.935±0.044^C	1.276±0.039^B	1.394±0.043^A	1.291±0.028^B	26.581^**
B(g)	54.399±3.277^D	106.834±5.345^C	171.997±6.150^A	139.293±4.054^B	107.437^**
AA	2.455±0.282	2.375±0.239	2.250±0.279	2.583±0.288	0.255^ns

Fig.2 The percentage of surviving new shoots connected to different age-class parent ramets of Fargesia nitida in different canopy conditions (Means±SE) 图注同图1 Notes see Fig. 1 1:一龄母株 One-year-old parent ramet 2:二龄母株 Two-year-old parent ramet 3:三龄母株 Three-year-old parent ramet 4:四龄母株 Four-year-old parent ramet

Fig.3 The relationships between the number of surviving new shoots and basal diameter of parent ramet of Fargesia nitida in different canopy conditions (Means±SE) 图注同图1 Notes See Fig.1 1:0个当年生立竹 With no new surviving shoot 2:1个当年生立竹 With one new surviving shoot 3:≥2个当年生立竹 With equal or greater than two new surviving shoots

Table 2 The relationships between basal diameter of surviving new shoots and that of primary and secondary parent ramets of Fargesia nitida in different canopy conditions

项目 Item		FU	MG	LG	FEW
PPR-NS	拟合方程 Equation	y=1.014 7x-0.006 6	y=0.974 8x+0.070 2	y=1.034 8x-0.048 2	y=0.887 2x+0.136 3
	相关系数 Correlation coefficient (r)	0.952 6^**	0.935 3^**	0.973 3^**	0.937 2^**
SPR-NS	拟合方程 Equation	y=0.582 8x+0.459 3	y=0.499 2x+0.594 7	y=0.678 5x+0.461 9	y=0.621 3x+0.494 2
	相关系数 Correlation coefficient (r)	0.640 5^**	0.584 6^**	0.625 3^**	0.606 5^**

Table 3 The relationships between basal diameter of parent ramets and rhizome size of surviving new shoots, and that between basal diameter and rhizome diameter of surviving new shoots

项目 Item		FU	MG	LG	FEW
PPR-RD	拟合方程 Equation	y=0.684 6x+0.239 2	y= 1.019 9^{0.929 7}	y=0.661 8x+0.346 9	y=0.595x+0.407 5
	相关系数 Correlation coefficient (r)	0.799 0^**	0.843 0^**	0.865 2^**	0.868 6^**
PR-RL	拟合方程 Equation	y=3.230 9x+1.740 4	y=2.551x+4.356 7	y=-0.111x+ 8.568 5	y=-1.32x+ 0.685
	相关系数 Correlation coefficient (r)	0.486 2^*	0.450 4^*	0.014 1	0.107 7
BD-SD	拟合方程 Equation	y=0.644 7x+0.273 3	y=0.979 7x^{0.970 0}	y=0.592 3x+0.443 8	y=0.998 1x^{0.649 5}
	相关系数 Correlation coefficient (r)	0.801 4^**	0.900 1^**	0.823 2^**	0.838 6^**

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