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Above and belowground plant traits are not consistent in response to drought and competition treatments 

 
论文编号:
作者: Asefa M
刊物名称: Annals of Botany
所属学科:
论文题目英文: Above and belowground plant traits are not consistent in response to drought and competition treatments
年: Aug 2022
卷: online
期:
页:
联系作者: Yang J
收录类别:
影响因子: 5.04
参与作者:
备注:
摘要:

Background and Aims

Our understanding of plant responses to biotic and abiotic drivers are largely based on aboveground plant traits, with little focus on belowground traits despite their key role in water and nutrient uptake. Here, we aimed to understand the extent to which above and belowground traits are coordinated, and how these traits respond to soil moisture gradients and plant intraspecific competition.

Methods

We chose seedlings of five tropical tree species and grew them in a greenhouse for 16 weeks under a soil moisture gradient (low (drought), medium, and high (well-watered) moisture levels) with and without intraspecific competition. At harvest, we measured nine above and five belowground traits of all seedlings based on standard protocols.

Key Results

In response to the soil moisture gradient, aboveground traits are found to be consistent with the leaf economics spectrum whereas belowground traits are inconsistent with the root economics spectrum. We found high specific leaf area and total leaf area in well-watered conditions while high leaf dry matter content, leaf thickness and stem dry matter content were observed in drought conditions. However, belowground traits showed contrasting patterns with high specific root length but low root branching index in the low water treatment. The correlations between above and belowground traits across the soil moisture gradient were variable. That is, specific leaf area was positively correlated with specific root length, while it was negatively correlated with root average diameter across moisture levels. However, leaf dry matter content was unexpectedly positively correlated with both specific root length and root branching index. Intraspecific competition has influenced both above and belowground traits, but interacted with soil moisture to affect only belowground traits. Consistent with functional equilibrium theory, more biomass was allocated to roots under drought conditions, and to leaves under sufficient soil moisture conditions.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that the response of belowground traits to plant intraspecific competition and soil moisture conditions may not be inferred using aboveground traits suggesting that multiple resource use axes are needed to understand plant ecological strategies. Lack of consistent leaf—root trait correlations across the soil moisture gradient highlight the multidimensionality of plant trait relationships which needs more exploration.

 

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