Biomass allocation to leaves, stems and roots: meta‐analyses of interspecific variation and environmental control

Abstract

SummaryWe quantified the biomass allocation patterns to leaves, stems and roots in vegetative plants, and how this is influenced by the growth environment, plant size, evolutionary history and competition. Dose-response curves of allocation were constructed by means of a metaanalysis from a wide array of experimental data. They show that the fraction of whole-plant mass represented by leaves (LMF) increases most strongly with nutrients and decreases most strongly with light. Correction for size-induced allocation patterns diminishes the LMFresponse to light, but makes the effect of temperature on LMF more apparent. There is a clear phylogenetic effect on allocation, as eudicots invest relatively more than monocots in leaves, as do gymnosperms compared with woody angiosperms. Plants grown at high densities show a clear increase in the stem fraction. However, in most comparisons across species groups or environmental factors, the variation in LMF is smaller than the variation in one of the other components of the growth analysis equation: the leaf area : leaf mass ratio (SLA). In competitive situations, the stem mass fraction increases to a smaller extent than the specific stem length (stem length : stem mass). Thus, we conclude that plants generally are less able to adjust allocation than to alter organ morphology.

Enemies lost: parallel evolution in structural defense and tolerance to herbivory of invasive Jacobaea vulgaris

“…Root-shoot ratio can be influenced by variable factors such as soil condition, local competition and herbivory (Monk 1966;Å gren and Ingestad 1987;van der Meijden et al 1988. Hutchings andJohn 2004;Poorter et al 2012). We argue that this allocation-to-root phenomenon we found in the native J. vulgaris is species specific, which is due to the selection pressure of its specialist herbivore Tyria jacobaeae in the natural habitats.…”

Habitat stress initiates changes in composition, CO2 gas exchange and C-allocation as life traits in biological soil crusts

“…Even their water balance can acclimate to different conditions and, for soil crust lichens from the Namib Desert, it was not only shown that minimum thallus water content (WC) allowing positive NP can be extremely low (Lange et al,1994), but also that photosynthesis is reactivated by water vapour uptake alone (Lange et al, 2006). Finally, Poorter et al (2012) showed that carbon partitioning acclimates to different habitat conditions and patterns of assimilate allocation are known to serve as excellent indicators for growth performance in vascular plants. Palmquist et al (2002) propose that lichens are able to optimise their resource investments between carbohydrate input and expenditure, suggesting that a carbon economy view might be a fruitful way to compare and understand the performance of different lichens.…”

Biotic and climatic controls on interannual variability in carbon fluxes across terrestrial ecosystems

“…At the individual level, plant biomass is allocated to leaves, stems, and roots to minimize the multiple environmental limitations (Poorter et al, 2012). Under prolonged cold weather and drought stress, the plants are forced to invest more biomass in roots (Poorter et al, 2012), which constrains the allocation pattern and decreases the CnBE.…”

“…At the individual level, plant biomass is allocated to leaves, stems, and roots to minimize the multiple environmental limitations (Poorter et al, 2012). Under prolonged cold weather and drought stress, the plants are forced to invest more biomass in roots (Poorter et al, 2012), which constrains the allocation pattern and decreases the CnBE. At the community level, both intra-and inter-specific variations in plant traits are important sources of ecosystem functioning stability (Loreau and de Mazancourt, 2013), which might be restricted by long-term climatic stresses because only those species with particular similar traits can survive in severe environments.…”