Exploitation of patchy soil water resources by the clonal vine Ficus tikoua in karst habitats of southwestern China

Liu, Changcheng; Yuguo, Liu; Guo, Ke; Fan, Dayong; Yu, Lifei; Yang, Rui

doi:10.1007/s11738-010-0520-z

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Thus another possible explanation is that the loss of apical dominance caused by stolon severance promotes the growth of supporting ramets. Significant costs of water export in clonal plants also have previously been reported in C. flacca and Ficus tikoua spanning a gradient in water availability [39], [43]. However, this contrasts with the results in H. bonariensis [37], C. hirta [39], P. anserina [80] and Buchloe dactyloides [88], which showed that clonal integration confers benefits on drought stressed ramets but no costs on the connected supporting ramets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…In clonal plants, physiological integration allows water to be transported from connected and well-watered ramets to ramets subjected to drought, thereby alleviating water stress in water-stressed ramets under heterogeneous water environments [15] , [35] – [37] . Several studies have shown the effects of variable water availability on the morphology and gas exchange of clonal plants [3] , [15] , [36] , [38] – [43] . However, no study has separated the effect of water stress on clonal plant from the effect of provision of support to a dependent ramet by a supporting one.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Physiological Integration Ameliorates Negative Effects of Drought Stress in the Clonal Herb Fragaria orientalis

Zhang

Sammul

2012

PLoS ONE

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Clonal growth allows plants to spread horizontally and to establish ramets in sites of contrasting resource status. If ramets remain physiologically integrated, clones in heterogeneous environments can act as cooperative systems – effects of stress on one ramet can be ameliorated by another connected ramet inhabiting benign conditions. But little is known about the effects of patch contrast on physiological integration of clonal plants and no study has addressed its effects on physiological traits like osmolytes, reactive oxygen intermediates and antioxidant enzymes. We examined the effect of physiological integration on survival, growth and stress indicators such as osmolytes, reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs) and antioxidant enzymes in a clonal plant, Fragaria orientalis, growing in homogenous and heterogeneous environments differing in patch contrast of water availability (1 homogeneous (no contrast) group; 2 low contrast group; 3 high contrast group). Drought stress markedly reduced the survival and growth of the severed ramets of F. orientalis, especially in high contrast treatments. Support from a ramet growing in benign patch considerably reduced drought stress and enhanced growth of ramets in dry patches. The larger the contrast between water availability, the larger the amount of support the depending ramet received from the supporting one. This support strongly affected the growth of the supporting ramet, but not to an extent to cause increase in stress indicators. We also found indication of costs related to maintenance of physiological connection between ramets. Thus, the net benefit of physiological integration depends on the environment and integration between ramets of F. orientalis could be advantageous only in heterogeneous conditions with a high contrast.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological Integration Ameliorates Negative Effects of Drought Stress in the Clonal Herb Fragaria orientalis

Zhang

Sammul

2012

PLoS ONE

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“…They are characterized as a large bedrock outcrop area with shallow soil, a discontinuous distribution, and complex and diverse micro-landforms. Previous studies have demonstrated a high diversity of microhabitats in karst regions [2], with diverse microclimatic characteristics in different microhabitats [3], and high spatial heterogeneity of soil nutrients, owing to uneven nutrient distribution and mobility [4,5], and of moisture [6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Heterogeneous Karst Microhabitats on the Root Foraging Ability of Chinese Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) Seedlings

Liu

Xiao-li

Zhou

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Chinese windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei) are widely planted in karst bedrock outcrop areas in southwest China because of their high economic and ecological values. The aims of this study were to investigate the foraging ability of Chinese windmill palm seedlings planted in six different types of karst microhabitat and to identify the main environmental factors that influence root foraging ability. We planted three-year-old Chinese windmill palm seedlings in six typical karst microhabitats (i.e., rocky trough, rocky surface, rocky gully, rocky soil surface, rocky pit, and soil surface microhabitats). One year after transplanting, the seedlings were excavated to determine the morphological parameters values of new roots and the nutrient concentrations of new roots and leaves. The root foraging ability of Chinese windmill palm seedlings, defined as new root length and new root surface area, was significantly greater in the rocky trough, rocky soil surface, and soil surface microhabitats than in the rocky gully, rocky surface, and rocky pit microhabitats (p < 0.05). Redundancy analysis revealed that the main positive factor affecting the rooting ability of Chinese windmill palm seedlings was soil thickness. Chinese windmill palm seedlings improved their root absorption efficiency by increasing their root length and root surface area under soil nutrient deficiency conditions. The organic carbon, total nitrogen, and available potassium in soil positively influenced the concentration of N and K in roots. Total potassium in soil negatively influenced the biomass of new annual leaves and concentrations of N, P and K in new annual roots and leaves. Chinese windmill palm seedlings can be grown in the different karst microhabitats, especially in the rocky trough, rocky soil surface, and soil surface microhabitats, and, therefore, it is suitable for use in the regeneration of karst forests.

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“…Plants with high iWUE are better able to adapt to nutrient-and water-limited environments . Due to the greater hydraulic erosion and complex underground drainage network (Nie et al, 2014;Chen et al, 2015), karst soils cannot retain enough nutrients and water for plant growth even though precipitation is high (1000-2000 mm) (Liu et al, 2011;Fu et al, 2012;Chen et al, 2015). An understanding of the impact of CO 2 diffusion and the maximum carboxylase activity of Rubisco (V cmax ) on A and iWUE in karst plants can provide insight into the physiological strategies of water-carbon regulation of plants used in adaptation to karst environments at the leaf scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The strategies of water–carbon regulation of plants in a subtropical primary forest on karst soils in China

et al. 2018

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Coexisting plant species in a karst ecosystem may use diverse strategies of trade off between carbon gain and water loss to adopt to the low soil nutrient and low water availability conditions. An understanding of the impact of CO 2 diffusion and maximum carboxylase activity of Rubisco (V cmax ) on the light-saturated net photosynthesis (A) and intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) can provide insight into physiological strategies of the water-carbon regulation of coexisting plant species used in adaptation to karst environments at the leaf scale. We selected 63 dominant species (across 6 life forms) in a subtropical karst primary forest in southwestern China, measured their CO 2 response curves, and calculated the corresponding stomatal conductance to CO 2 (g s ), mesophyll conductance to CO 2 (g m ), and V cmax . The results showed that g s and g m varied about 7.6-and 34.5fold, respectively, and that g s was positively related to g m . The contribution of g m to the leaf CO 2 gradient was similar to that of g s . g s / A, g m / A and g t / A was negatively related to V cmax / A. The relative limitations of g s (l s ), g m (l m ), and V cmax (l b ) to A for the whole group (combined six life forms) were significantly different from each other (P < 0.05). l m was the largest (0.38 ± 0.12), followed by l b (0.34 ± 0.14), and l s (0.28 ± 0.07). No significant difference was found between l s , l m , and l b for trees and tree/shrubs, while l m was the largest, followed by l b and l s for shrubs, grasses, vines and ferns (P < 0.05). iWUE varied about 3-fold (from 29.52 to 88.92 µmol CO 2 mol −1 H 2 O) across all species, and was significantly correlated with g s , V cmax , g m / g s , and V cmax / g s . These results indicated that karst plants maintained relatively high A and low iWUE through the covariation of g s , g m , and V cmax as an adaptation to a karst environment.

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Exploitation of patchy soil water resources by the clonal vine Ficus tikoua in karst habitats of southwestern China

Cited by 16 publications

References 32 publications

Physiological Integration Ameliorates Negative Effects of Drought Stress in the Clonal Herb Fragaria orientalis

Physiological Integration Ameliorates Negative Effects of Drought Stress in the Clonal Herb Fragaria orientalis

Influence of Heterogeneous Karst Microhabitats on the Root Foraging Ability of Chinese Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) Seedlings

The strategies of water–carbon regulation of plants in a subtropical primary forest on karst soils in China

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