Effects of Sand Burial on Survival, Growth, Gas Exchange and Biomass Allocation of Ulmus pumila Seedlings in the Hunshandak Sandland, China

Abstract

Ulmus pumila was shown to be tolerant to partial sand burial, but must be protected from complete burial.

Sand burial compensates for the negative effects of erosion on the dune-building shrub Artemisia wudanica

“…Previous studies have demonstrated that wind erosion has negative effects on plant survivorship, growth and reproduction in many dune plants (Marbà and Duarte 1994;Petru and Menges 2004;Yu et al 2008;Li et al 2010a). Sand burial can stimulate plant physiological activity and growth (Shi et al 2004;Perumal and Maun 2006), shifts in biomass allocation patterns (Burylo et al 2011), and the production of adventitious roots (Dech and Maun 2006;Liu et al 2008). Erosion causes plants to fall to the ground where they often become entirely or partly buried (e.g., when they are located at leeward slope and crest of the sand dune), stimulating further deposition of sand and burial on the fallen shoots.…”

Effects of sand burial and overstory tree age on seedling establishment in coastal Pinus thunbergii forests in the northern Shandong Peninsula, China

“…In this paper, we found RMR and root/shoot ratio increased with increased depth. When a plant is buried, soil moisture in the root zone increases and soil temperature decreases (Shi et al 2004). Moreover, high root biomass allocation benefits water absorption (Perumal et al 2006).…”

“…5), indicating that partial burial might stimulate seedling growth. Many plant species enhanced seedling growth by partial burial compared to complete burial (Shi et al 2004, Zheng et al 2012 For personal use only.…”

“…Several authors report that seeds that do not germinate in sand become dormant, especially at deeper depths and form a seed bank, among which a large proportion of seeds die (Chen and Maun 1999, Zhu et al 2009, Guo et al 2010. Similarly, seedlings are also tolerant to partial burial in sand but mortality increases with complete burial (Maun 1994, Shi et al 2004, Zheng et al 2012. Thus, the adaptive ability of sand dune species to withstand sand burial is an important natural regeneration topic of coastal sand dune forest ecosystems.…”

Experimental sand burial affects seedling survivorship, morphological traits, and biomass allocation of <i>Ulmus pumila</i> var. <i>sabulosa</i> in the Horqin Sandy Land, China

“…Studies on the effects of sand burial have been widely reported in the fields of seedling survival (Belcher, 1977;Cheplick and Grandstaff, 1997;Harris and Davy, 1987;Li et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2008;Perumal and Maun, 2006), physiological characteristics (Shi et al, 2004;Wang et al, 2012;Zhao et al, 2015), and reproductive strategies (Liu et al, 2014;Sun et al, 2014;Zhao et al, 2007) on coastal marshes and wetlands plants. In general, it appears to be a thresh- old sand burial depth for each plant species to maintain its vigor and subsequent sustained growth (Maun, 1997).…”