Effects of three-dimensional soil heterogeneity and species composition on plant biomass and biomass allocation of grass-mixtures

Abstract

Soil heterogeneity significantly affects plant dynamics such as plant growth and biomass. Most studies developed soil heterogeneity in two dimensions, i.e. either horizontally or vertically. However, soil heterogeneity in natural ecosystems varies both horizontally and vertically i.e. in three dimensions. Previous studies on plant biomass and biomass allocation rarely considered the joint effects of soil heterogeneity and species composition. Thus, to investigate such joint effects on plant biomass and biomass allocation, a controlled experiment was conducted, where three levels of soil heterogeneity and seven types of species compositions were applied. Such soil heterogeneity was developed by filling nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor substrates in an alternative pattern in pots with different patch sizes (small, medium or large), and species compositions was achieved by applying three plant species (i.e. Festuca elata, Bromus inermis, Elymus breviaristatus) in all possible combinations (growing either in monoculture or in mixtures). Results showed that patch size significantly impacted plant biomass and biomass allocation, which differed among plant species. Specially, at the pot scale, with increasing patch size, shoot biomass decreased, while root biomass and R: S ratio increased, and total biomass tended to show a unimodal pattern, where the medium patch supported higher total biomass. Moreover, at the substrate scale, more shoot biomass and total biomass were found in nutrient-rich substrate. Furthermore, at the community scale, two of the three target plant species growing in monoculture had more shoot biomass than those growing together with other species. Thus, our results indicate soil heterogeneity significantly affected plant biomass and biomass allocation, which differ among plant species, though more research is needed on the generalization on biomass allocation. We propose that soil heterogeneity should be considered more explicitly in studies with more species in long-term experiments.

Soil patch heterogeneity improves plant productivity and nutrients regulated by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

“…For instance, some plants growing in soil patches of different sizes can allocate greater biomass and nutrients in large patches than in small patches (Hutchings & Wijesinghe, 1997;Kume et al, 2006). On the contrary, Liu et al (2021) revealed that the aboveground biomass of host plants decreased with the increase in heterogeneous soil patch size. Besides, some plants' growth and nutrient status exhibit neutral or negative effects in response to the size of heterogeneous patches (Day et al, 2003;Reynolds et al, 2007).…”

Responses of plant biomass allocation and carbon storage characteristics to altitude gradient in alpine peat bogs

“…As the elevation increases, surface water, soil temperature and resource availability of peat bogs decrease (Ma et al, 2010). To resist the environmental stress of high cold, plants improve their photosynthetic capacity, ensure the balance between water supply and demand, and maintain their growth and development by adjusting their morphological and structural characteristics and optimizing the above-ground and underground biomass allocation patterns (Liu et al, 2021). This strategy is an important embodiment of the ecological adaptation strategies of plants to environmental heterogeneity stress (Freschet et al, 2018).…”