Drought affects the coordination of belowground and aboveground resource‐related traits in Solidago canadensis in China

Abstract

Quantifying patterns of variation and coordination of plant functional traits can help to understand the mechanisms underlying both invasiveness and adaptation of plants. Little is known about the coordinated variations of performance and functional traits of different organs in invasive plants, especially in response to their adaptation to environmental stressors. To identify the responses of the invasive species Solidago canadensis to drought, 180 individuals were randomly collected from 15 populations and 212 ramets were replanted in a greenhouse to investigate both the response and coordination between root and leaf functional traits. Drought significantly decreased plant growth and most of the root and leaf functional traits, that is, root length, surface area, volume and leaf size, number, and mass fraction, except for the root length ratio and root mass fraction. Phenotypic plasticity was higher in root traits than in leaf traits in response to drought, and populations did not differ significantly. The plasticity of most root functional traits, that is, root length (RL), root surface area (RSA), root volume (RV), and root mass fraction (RMF), were significantly positively correlated with biomass between control and drought. However, the opposite was found for leaf functional traits, that is, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf area ratio (LAR), and leaf mass fraction (LMF). Drought enhanced the relationship between root and leaf, that is, 26 pairwise root–leaf traits were significantly correlated under drought, while only 15 pairwise root–leaf traits were significantly correlated under control conditions. Significant correlations were found between biomass and all measured functional traits except for leaf size. RV, root length ratio, RMF, total area of leaves, and LMF responded differently to water availability. These responses enable S. canadensis to cope with drought conditions and may help to explain the reason of the vast ecological amplitude of this species.

Cultivars of popular restoration grass developed for drought do not have higher drought resistance and do not differ in drought‐related traits from other accessions

“…Unlike in other studies (e.g. Larson & Funk 2016; Du et al 2019), we did not find more or stronger trait correlations in our drought treatment compared to control. Rather, we found relatively consistent trait relationships across both developmental stages and treatments levels.…”

“…Furthermore, potential negative impacts of using cultivars raise additional concerns about their ubiquitous use in restoration. Studies have found that the process by which native materials are selected and produced may result in unintentional selection for nonadaptive traits (Espeland et al 2017) or lower variability in traits (Foxx & Kramer 2020). In addition, their introduction into sites with conspecifics may negatively affect the genetic integrity of local populations (Hufford & Mazer 2003).…”

“…In addition, rapid screening methods have been developed to aid in the identification of promising sources of restoration plant materials (Leger et al 2020). Furthermore, sourcing and production practices aimed at retaining adaptive traits and genetic diversity have recently been refined (Espeland et al 2017;Bucharova et al 2019). All of these recent advancements will likely contribute to improved seed selection and production as the practice and science of restoration ecology continues to grow.…”

Trade-off Strategy of Three Dominant Species in Grazing Exclusion of Desert Steppe,china

“…Leaf nitrogen content is closely related to photosynthesis and relative growth rate of plants. The leaf nitrogen content in long-term grazing exclusion of Stipa brevi ora is higher than grazing, indicating that leaf nitrogen content is positively correlated with environmental factors (Du et al 2019;Wang et al 2016). In the study, we also found that leaf functional traits in non-linear trend (Sandel et al 2016).…”

Addition of Phosphorus and Nitrogen Support the Invasiveness of Alternanthera Philoxeroides Under Water Stress

“…Similar results were noted in one preceding research where a high soil water holding capacity had significant effect on the growth and biomass of Solidago canadensis . [ 47 ] We thus noted that invasive A. philoxeroides has a high survival rate, and because of it, it is expected to grow better with increasing availability of resources like water and nutrients. The current findings also supported our hypothesis regarding the effect of water availability on the functional traits of plants (PH, LA, RL, TFBm, and TDBm) that were significantly related with the performance of plants.…”