Response of root systems to soil heterogeneity and interspecific competition in Alhagi sparsi- folia

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1258.2012.01015

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims The responses of plant roots to soil heterogeneity and the interactive effects among plant roots have been important research topics in recent years. Most studies have focused on annual plant species and conducted experiments in controlled greenhouse conditions. Few comprehensive studies have been carried out on the response of perennial plant roots to soil heterogeneity and competition. Our objective is to investigate the responses and adaptive strategies of root-system growth of the perennial plant Alhagi sparsifolia to nutrient heterogeneity and competition.
Methods We used sheep feces as nutrient patches to form soil heterogeneity and planted A. sparsifolia in glass pools. Seedlings received one of six factorial combinations of soil heterogeneity (uniform, patch-center and patch-edge) and competition treatments (alone versus with competition). We excavated whole plants and analyzed their root biomass, root respiration, root system architecture and other related characteristics in each treatment after 100 days.
Important findings Roots of A. sparsifolia grow in the direction where soil space is abundant under no plant competition, even though nutrient patches are present on the opposite side. Roots of A. sparsifolia also grow in the direction where soil space is abundant under plant competition, but neighboring plants limited the development of focal plants, resulting in significantly reduced root and shoot biomass (p < 0.01). Nutrient patches promote the growth of plant roots. The growth of A. sparsifolia roots needs both nutrients and soil space, and space is more important than nutrients. If neighbors are present, plant roots first occupy the space where competitors exist.

Key words: Alhagi sparsifolia, plant competition, root system, soil heterogeneity

LUO Wei-Cheng, ZENG Fan-Jiang, LIU Bo, ZHANG Li-Gang, SONG Cong, PENG Shou-Lan, Stefan K. ARNDT. Response of root systems to soil heterogeneity and interspecific competition in Alhagi sparsi- folia[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2012, 36(10): 1015-1023.

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Figures/Tables 5

Fig. 1 Location of Alhagi sparsifolia seedlings in the glass container and the horizontal distribution of root biomass (mean ± SE). A, No nutrient addition, no competitor. B, Nutrient patch at the edge, no competitor. C, nutrient patch at the center, no competitor. D, No nutrient patch, with competitor. E, Nutrient patch at the edge, with competitor. F, Nutrient patch at the center, with competitor. Each rectangle represents a glass container (length-height ratio of the rectangle does not presenting the real proportion of glass container), and the numbers at the bottom of box represent the length of glass container (cm). The location of the plant individuals is marked. Diagonal bars denote the nutrient patches. The horizontal unfilled bars indicate the root biomass of the root on the left and right side of root system of the focal plant, and the horizontal black bars represent the left- and right-side root biomass of the competitor.

Fig. 2 Focal plant biomass under soil nutrient patch treatments and competition treatment (mean ± SE). Positive numbers represent the shoot biomass (above x-axis), and negative numbers indicate the root biomass (below x-axis). The white bars represent the biomass of the focal plant without comepetor, and the black bars indicate the plant biomass with competitors. Different lowercase letters indicate the significant differences in the biomass of the focal plant under different treatments (p < 0.01).

Table 1 Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) results of biomass of different parts of plants under different treatments

处理 Treatment	自由度 df	根系生物量 Root biomass		枝叶生物量 Shoot biomass		总生物量 Total biomass
		F	p	F	p	F	p
竞争处理 Competition treatment	1	61.348	0.001	38.472	0.003	34.386	0.004
土壤处理 Soil treatment	2	1.085	0.396	1.400	0.317	0.678	0.543
竞争和土壤处理 Competition by soil treatment	1	1.973	0.233	1.716	0.260	2.255	0.208

Table 2 Respiration rate of root system (nmol·g-1·s-1, mean ± SE)

处理 Treatment		目标植物 Focal plant		竞争植物 Competitor plant
处理 Treatment		左侧根系 Left root	右侧根系 Right root	左侧根系 Left root	右侧根系 Right root
无养分斑块 No nutrient patch	无竞争者 No competitor	-32.52 ± 0.81^a	-83.78 ± 1.38^b	-	-
无养分斑块 No nutrient patch	有竞争者 With a competitor	-30.82 ± 0.11^a	-47.06 ± 0.12^c	-34.82 ± 0.02^a	-56.56 ± 0.23^b
养分斑块边缘 Patch-edge	无竞争者 No competitor	-40.95 ± 0.53^a	-91.37 ± 0.62^b	-	-
养分斑块边缘 Patch-edge	有竞争者 With a competitor	-35.87 ± 1.16^a	-42.94 ± 0.17^a	-43.45 ± 0.06^a	-60.99 ± 0.43^b
养分斑块中央 Patch-center	无竞争者 No competitor	-36.87 ± 0.47^a	-102.28 ± 0.25^b	-	-
养分斑块中央 Patch-center	有竞争者 With a competitor	-30.87 ± 1.09^a	-49.27 ± 0.14^c	-40.14 ± 1.02^a	-41.87 ± 0.46^a

Fig. 3 Root distribution of the focal plant and competitor in the glass container. Focal plant is at the left side in each illustration, and the competitor is at the right side in D, E and F. The vertical length and horizontal length in each illustration represent the height and length of the glass container.

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