Responses of the functional traits in Cleistogenes squarrosa to nitrogen addition and drought

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2015.0004

Abstract

Abstract: Aims

Plant functional traits have been widely used to study the responses of plant to environmental change. Cleistogenes squarrosa is an important C₄ species in Nei Mongol grassland. How its functional traits would respond to varied nitrogen and water conditions have rarely been studied. Our subject was to examine the responses of the whole-plant traits and leaf morphological and physiological traits to nitrogen addition and drought in this species.

Methods

We conducted a pot experiment with a gradient of N addition (0, 10.5, 35.0, and 56.0 g·m^-2·a^-1) and water treatments (natural precipitation vs. 70% of mean monthly precipitation) in 2013. The whole-plant traits (e.g., root depth and stem-leaf biomass ratio), leaf morphological (e.g., leaf area and specific leaf area) and physiological traits (e.g., photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency, and leaf N content) were investigated.

<i>Important findings </i>

N addition had a significant effect on the whole-plant traits in C. squarrosa. The effects of N addition, water treatments, and an interaction between N addition and water treatments on leaf morphological and physiological traits were highly significant in most cases. The patterns of functional traits in response to N addition differed between plants under natural precipitation and with reduced mean monthly precipitation. Root depth, stem biomass, and stem-leaf biomass ratio were increased in treatments with low and intermediate N additions under reduced precipitation, but not changed under natural precipitation. Specific leaf area increased along the N addition gradient under drought, but did not change under natural precipitation. High N addition stimulated photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate and increased water use efficiency under natural precipitation, but had no effect on under reduced precipitation. Leaf N content on area basis increased slightly with the increases in N addition under natural precipitation, but decreased significantly under reduced precipitation. N addition influenced mainly the leaf morphological and physiological traits under natural precipitation and the whole-plant traits and leaf morphological traits under reduced precipitation. In conclusion, our results indicate that the functional traits in C. squarrosa respond to N addition and the patterns of responses differ under different water conditions, reflecting the adaptation to changes in N and water availability.

Key words: C4 plant, leaf nitrogen content, morphological traits, Nei Mongol grassland, photosynthetic rate, physiological traits

YANG Hao,LUO Ya-Chen. Responses of the functional traits in Cleistogenes squarrosa to nitrogen addition and drought[J]. Chin J Plan Ecolo, 2015, 39(1): 32-42.

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https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2015/V39/I1/32

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 Plot layout.

Table 1 Results of two-way ANOVAs for the effects of N addition, water treatments and their interaction on whole-plant traits and leaf morphological traits in Cleistogenes squarrosa

	整株性状 Whole-plant traits										叶形态性状 Leaf morphological traits
	高度 Height (cm)		根系深度 Root depth (cm)		茎生物量 Stem biomass (mg·tiller^-1)		叶生物量 Leaf biomass (mg·tiller^-1)		茎叶比 Stem: leaf ratio (tiller^-1)		叶面积 Leaf area (cm²·leaf^-1)		叶干质量 Leaf dry mass (mg·leaf^-1)		比叶面积 Specific leaf area (cm²·g^-1·leaf^-1)
	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p
氮添加 N addition	4.930	0.010^*	15.340	0.000^**	16.940	0.000^**	6.080	0.004^**	12.040	0.000^**	2.940	0.059	0.000	0.986	3.540	0.035^*
水处理 Water treatment	0.000	1.000	0.000	1.000	0.000	1.000	0.000	1.000	0.000	1.000	2.870	0.106	3.680	0.031^*	5.480	0.030^*
氮添加×水处理 N addition × Water treatment	0.000	1.000	0.000	1.000	0.000	1.000	0.000	1.000	0.000	1.000	5.950	0.005^**	8.030	0.001^**	5.310	0.008^**

Fig. 2 Effects of N addition and drought on whole-plant traits in Cleistogenes squarrosa (mean ± SE, n = 4). Difference letters indicate significant differences among treatments (LSD test, p < 0.05).

Table 2 Results of two-way ANOVAs for the effects of N addition, water treatments and their interaction on leaf photosynthetic traits and leaf nitrogen content in Cleistogenes squarrosa

	叶生理形状 Leaf photosynthetic traits													叶片氮含量 Leaf nitrogen content
	光合速率 P_n (μmol CO₂·m^-2·s^-1)		蒸腾速率 T_r (mmol H₂O·m^-2·s^-1)		气孔导度 G_s (mol H₂O·m^-2·s^-1)		胞间CO₂浓度 C_i (μmol CO₂·mol^-1)		水分利用效率 WUE (μmol CO₂·mol^-1H₂O)		气孔限制 L_s			单位质量叶片氮含量 N_mass(%)		单位面积叶片氮含量 N_area(g·m^-2)
	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p	F	p		F	p	F	p
	氮添加 N addition	3.91	0.024^*	1.86	0.169	1.39	0.274	11.28	0.000^**	2.44	0.095	11.49	0.000^**		6.71	0.003^**	1.34	0.290
水处理 Water treatment	9.19	0.007^**	12.89	0.002^**	10.85	0.004^**	6.29	0.021^*	0.44	0.513	6.50	0.019^*		7.55	0.012^*	15.05	0.001**
氮添加×水处理 N addition × Water treatment	7.82	0.001^**	2.70	0.073	4.14	0.020^*	10.03	0.000^**	3.71	0.029^*	9.91	0.000^**		0.45	0.720	5.16	0.008**

Fig. 3 Effects of N addition and drought on leaf morphological traits in Cleistogenes squarrosa (mean ± SE, n = 4). Difference letters indicate significant differences among treatments (LSD test, p < 0.05).

Fig. 4 Effects of N addition and drought on leaf photosynthetic traits in Cleistogenes squarrosa (mean ± SE, n = 4). Ci, intercellular CO2 concentration; Gs, stomatal conductance; Ls, stomatal limitation; Pn, net photosynthetic rate; Tr, transpiration rate; WUE, water use efficiency. Difference letters indicate significant differences among treatments (LSD test, p < 0.05).

Fig. 5 Effects of N addition and drought on leaf nitrogen content based on leaf mass (Nmass) and leaf nitrogen content based on leaf area (Narea) in Cleistogenes squarrosa (mean ± SE, n = 4). Difference letters indicate significant differences among treatments (LSD test, p < 0.05).

Fig. 6 The cluster dendrogram of plant traits. Ci, intercellular CO2 concentration; Gs, stomatal conductance; Ls, stomatal limitation; Narea, leaf nitrogen content based on leaf area; Nmass, leaf nitrogen content based on leaf mass; Pn, net photosynthetic rate; Tr, transpiration rate; WUE, water use efficiency.

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