Response of root traits of Reaumuria soongorica and Salsola passerina to facilitation
HaiNa ZHANG, PeiXi SU, ShanJia LI, ZiJuan ZHOU, TingTing XIE
1 Linze Inland River Basin Research Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China;
2 Key Laboratory of Land Surface Process and Climate Change in Cold and Arid Regions, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Response of root traits of Reaumuria soongorica and Salsola passerina to facilitation
HaiNa ZHANG, PeiXi SU, ShanJia LI, ZiJuan ZHOU, TingTing XIE
1 Linze Inland River Basin Research Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China;
2 Key Laboratory of Land Surface Process and Climate Change in Cold and Arid Regions, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
摘要 C3 plant Reaumuria soongorica and C4 plant Salsola passerina are super xerophytes and coexist in a mixed community in either isolated or associated growth, and interspecific facilitation occurs in associated growth. In the present study, the root traits including root distribution, root length (RL), root surface area (RSA), root weight (RW) and specific root length (SRL) of both species in two growth forms were investigated to clarify their response to facilitation in associated growth. Six isolated plants of each species, as well as six associated plants similar in size and development were selected during the plant growing season, and their roots were excavated at 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–40 and 40–50 cm soil depths at the end of the growing season. All the roots of each plant were separated into the two categories of fine roots (<2 mm diameter) and coarse roots (≥2 mm diameter). Root traits such as RL and RSA in the fine and coarse roots were obtained by the root analyzing system WinRHIZO. Most of the coarse roots in R. soongorica and S. passerina were distributed in the top 10 cm of the soil in both growth forms, whereas the fine roots of the two plant species were found mainly in the 10–20 and 20–30 cm soil depths in isolated growth, respectively. However, the fine roots of both species were mostly overlapped in 10–20 cm soil depth in associated growth. The root/canopy ratios of both species reduced, whereas the ratios of their fine roots to coarse roots in RL increased, and both species had an increased SRL in the fine roots in associated growth. In addition, there was the increase in RL of fine roots and content of root N for S. passerina in associated growth. Taken together, the root growth of S. passerina was facilitated for water and nutrient exploration under the inter-action of the overlapped roots in both species in associated growth, and higher SRL allowed both species to more effectively adapt to the infertile soil in the desert ecosystem.
Abstract: C3 plant Reaumuria soongorica and C4 plant Salsola passerina are super xerophytes and coexist in a mixed community in either isolated or associated growth, and interspecific facilitation occurs in associated growth. In the present study, the root traits including root distribution, root length (RL), root surface area (RSA), root weight (RW) and specific root length (SRL) of both species in two growth forms were investigated to clarify their response to facilitation in associated growth. Six isolated plants of each species, as well as six associated plants similar in size and development were selected during the plant growing season, and their roots were excavated at 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–40 and 40–50 cm soil depths at the end of the growing season. All the roots of each plant were separated into the two categories of fine roots (<2 mm diameter) and coarse roots (≥2 mm diameter). Root traits such as RL and RSA in the fine and coarse roots were obtained by the root analyzing system WinRHIZO. Most of the coarse roots in R. soongorica and S. passerina were distributed in the top 10 cm of the soil in both growth forms, whereas the fine roots of the two plant species were found mainly in the 10–20 and 20–30 cm soil depths in isolated growth, respectively. However, the fine roots of both species were mostly overlapped in 10–20 cm soil depth in associated growth. The root/canopy ratios of both species reduced, whereas the ratios of their fine roots to coarse roots in RL increased, and both species had an increased SRL in the fine roots in associated growth. In addition, there was the increase in RL of fine roots and content of root N for S. passerina in associated growth. Taken together, the root growth of S. passerina was facilitated for water and nutrient exploration under the inter-action of the overlapped roots in both species in associated growth, and higher SRL allowed both species to more effectively adapt to the infertile soil in the desert ecosystem.
We are grateful for the financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91025026, 31070359) and the National Basic Research Program of China (Y31JA61001).
通讯作者:
PeiXi SU
E-mail: supx@lzb.ac.cn
引用本文:
HaiNa ZHANG, PeiXi SU, ShanJia LI, ZiJuan ZHOU, TingTing XIE . Response of root traits of Reaumuria soongorica and Salsola passerina to facilitation[J]. 干旱区科学, 2014, 6(5): 628-636.
HaiNa ZHANG, PeiXi SU, ShanJia LI, ZiJuan ZHOU, TingTing XIE. Response of root traits of Reaumuria soongorica and Salsola passerina to facilitation. Journal of Arid Land, 2014, 6(5): 628-636.
Aerts R. 1998. Interspecific competition in natural plant communities: Mechanisms, trade-offs, and plant-soil feedbacks. Journal of Experimental Botany, 49: 39.Aerts R, Chapin III F S. 1999. The mineral nutrition of wild plants revisited: a re-evaluation of processes and patterns. Advances in Ecological Research, 30: 1–67.Bertness M D, Callaway R. 1994. Positive interactions in communities. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 9: 191–193.Bertness M D, Ewanchuk P J. 2002. Latitudinal and climate-driven variation in the strength and nature of biological interactions in New England salt marshes. Oecologia, 132: 392–401.Carrick P J. 2003. Competitive and facilitative relationships among three shrub species, and the role of browsing intensity and rooting depth in the Succulent Karoo, South Africa. Journal of Vegetation Science, 14: 761–772.Cavieres L, Arroyo M T K, Penaloza A, et al. 2002. Nurse effect of Bolax gummifera cushion plants in the alpine vegetation of the Chilean Patagonian Andes. Journal of Vegetation Science, 13: 547–554.Craine J M, Wedin D A, Chapin F S, et al. 2003. Relationship between the structure of root systems and resource use for 11 North American grassland plants. Plant Ecology, 165: 85–100.de Kroon H. 2007. Ecology–How do roots interact? Science, 318: 1562–1563.Eissenstat D M. 1991. On the relationship between specific root length and the rate of root proliferation: a field study using citrus rootstocks. New Phytologist, 118: 63–68.Esler K J, Cowling R M. 1993. Edaphic factors and competition as determinants of pattern in South African karoo vegetation. South African Journal of Botany, 59: 287–295.Franco A C, Nobel P S. 1989. Effect of nurse plants on the microhabitat and growth of cacti. Journal of Ecology, 77: 870–886.Gomez-Aparcio L, Zamora R, Gomez J M, et al. 2004. Applying plant facilitation to forest restoration: a meta-analysis of the use of shrubs as nurse plants. Ecological Applications, 14: 1128–1138.Hogh-Jensen H, Schjoerring J K. 2000. Below-ground nitrogen transfer between different grassland species: direct quantification by 15N leaf feeding compared with indirect dilution of soil 15N. Plant and Soil, 227: 171–183.Holl K D. 2002. Effect of shrubs on tree seedling establishment in an abandoned tropical pasture. Journal of Ecology, 90: 179–187.Huang B R, Eissenstat D M. 2000. Linking hydraulic conductivity to anatomy in plants that vary in specific root length. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 125: 260–264.Keddy P A. 1989. Competition. London: Chapman and Hall.Larrea-Alcázar D M, López R P, Barrientos D. 2005. The nurse-plant effect of Prosopis flexuosa DC (Leg. mim.) in a dry valley of the Bolivian Andes. Ecotropicos, 18: 89–95.Law B E, Ryan M G, Anthoni P M. 1999. Seasonal and annual respiration of a ponderosa pine ecosystem. Global Change Biology, 5: 169–182.Li L, Sun J H, Zhang F S, et al. 2006. Root distribution and interactions between intercropped species. Oecologia, 147: 280–290.Liu J L, Li F R, Liu C A, et al. 2012. Influences of shrub vegetation on distribution and diversity of a ground beetle community in a Gobi desert ecosystem. Biodiversity and Conservation, 21: 2601–2619.Maestre F T, Bautista S, Cortina J. 2003. Positive, negative, and net effects in grass-shrub interactions in Mediterranean semiarid grasslands. Ecology, 84: 3186–3197.Marschner H, Kirkby E A, Cakmak I. 1996. Effect of mineral nutritional status on shoot-root partitioning of photoassimilates and cycling of mineral nutrients. Journal of Experimental Botany, 47: 1255–1263.Moro M J, Pugnaire F I, Haase P, et al. 1997. Mechanisms of interaction between a leguminous shrub and its understorey in a semi-arid environment. Ecography, 20: 175–184.Oesterheld M, Oyarzabal M. 2004. Grass-to-grass protection from grazing in a semi-arid steppe. Facilitation, competition, and mass effect. Oikos, 107: 576–582.Poorter H, Remkes C, Lambers H. 1990. Carbon and nitrogen economy of 24 wild species differing in relative growth rate. Plant Physiology, 94: 621–627.Pugnaire F I, Luque M T. 2001. Changes in plant interactions along a gradient of environmental stress. Oikos, 93: 42–49.Qiu M X, Liu J Q. 1982. The study on the plant community of Salsola passerina. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2: 311–318.Raffaele E, Veblen T T. 1998. Facilitation by nurse shrubs of resprouting behavior in a post-fire shrubland in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of Vegetation Science, 9: 693–698.Rieger M, Litvin P. 1999. Root system hydraulic conductivity in species with contrasting root anatomy. Journal of Experimental Botany, 50: 201–209.Rossi B E, Villagra P E. 2003. Effects of Prosopis flexuosa on soil properties and the spatial pattern of understorey species in arid Argentina. Journal of Vegetation Science, 14: 543–550.Schenk H J, Jackson R B. 2002. Rooting depths, lateral root spreads and below-ground/above-ground allometries of plants in water-limited ecosystems. Journal of Ecology, 90: 480–494.Shiponeni N, Allsopp N, Carrick P J, et al. 2011. Competitive interactions between grass and succulent shrubs at the ecotone between an arid grassland and succulent shrubland in the Karoo. Plant Ecology, 212: 795–808.Su P X, Yan Q D, Xie T T, et al. 2012. Associated growth of C3 and C4 desert plants helps the C3 species at the cost of the C4 species. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 34: 2057–2068.Trumbore S E, Gaudinski J B. 2003. The secret lives of roots. Science, 302: 1344–1345.Wilcox C S, Ferguson J W, Fernandez G C J, et al. 2004. Fine root growth dynamics of four Mojave Desert shrubs as related to soil moisture and microsite. Journal of Arid Environments, 56: 129–148.Withington J M, Reich P B, Oleksyn J, et al. 2006. Comparisons of structure and life span in roots and leaves among temperate trees. Ecological Monographs, 76: 381–397.Yan Q D, Su P X, Gao S. 2012. Response of photosynthetic characteristics of C3 desert plant Reaumuria soongorica and C4 desert plant Salsola passerina to different drought degrees. Journal of Desert Research, 32: 364–371.Yeaton R I, Esler K J. 1990. The dynamics of a succulent karoo vegetation–a study of species association and recruitment. Vegetation, 88: 103–113.