Alhagi sparsifolia: An ideal phreatophyte for combating desertification and land degradation

Tariq, Akash; Ullah, Abd; Sardans, Jordi; Zeng, Fanjiang; Graciano, Corina; Li, Xiangyi; Wang, Weiqi; Ahmed, Zeeshan; Ali, Sikandar; Zhang, Zhihao; Gao, Yanju; Peñuelas, Josep

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157228

Cited by 34 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…It serves various social and ecological services, such as preventing desertification and dunes, reducing salinization, and improving livelihoods. However, anthropogenic activities such as population growth, urbanization, industrialization, overgrazing, over-harvesting, and agricultural expansion threaten its abundance and habitats [ 38 ]. Evidence has underlined the urgent need for the revegetation and restoration of Alhagi vegetation [ 39 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mature A. sparsifolia benefits from its deep and extensive root system to exploit and use the groundwater resources. However, extreme environmental conditions persist in the hyperarid desert and can severely affect its growth and metabolism, particularly at the initial growth stages, causing a severe threat to its establishment and survival since its roots have not yet reached groundwater [ 38 ]. This scenario makes planting young seedlings for vegetation restoration challenging in a hyperarid and saline desert environment [ 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alhagi sparsifolia acclimatizes to saline stress by regulating its osmotic, antioxidant, and nitrogen assimilation potential

et al. 2022

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Background Alhagi sparsifolia (Camelthorn) is a leguminous shrub species that dominates the Taklimakan desert’s salty, hyperarid, and infertile landscapes in northwest China. Although this plant can colonize and spread in very saline soils, how it adapts to saline stress in the seedling stage remains unclear so a pot-based experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of four different saline stress levels (0, 50, 150, and 300 mM) on the morphological and physio-biochemical responses in A. sparsifolia seedlings. Results Our results revealed that N-fixing A. sparsifolia has a variety of physio-biochemical anti-saline stress acclimations, including osmotic adjustments, enzymatic mechanisms, and the allocation of metabolic resources. Shoot–root growth and chlorophyll pigments significantly decreased under intermediate and high saline stress. Additionally, increasing levels of saline stress significantly increased Na+ but decreased K+ concentrations in roots and leaves, resulting in a decreased K+/Na+ ratio and leaves accumulated more Na + and K + ions than roots, highlighting their ability to increase cellular osmolarity, favouring water fluxes from soil to leaves. Salt-induced higher lipid peroxidation significantly triggered antioxidant enzymes, both for mass-scavenging (catalase) and cytosolic fine-regulation (superoxide dismutase and peroxidase) of H2O2. Nitrate reductase and glutamine synthetase/glutamate synthase also increased at low and intermediate saline stress levels but decreased under higher stress levels. Soluble proteins and proline rose at all salt levels, whereas soluble sugars increased only at low and medium stress. The results show that when under low-to-intermediate saline stress, seedlings invest more energy in osmotic adjustments but shift their investment towards antioxidant defense mechanisms under high levels of saline stress. Conclusions Overall, our results suggest that A. sparsifolia seedlings tolerate low, intermediate, and high salt stress by promoting high antioxidant mechanisms, osmolytes accumulations, and the maintenance of mineral N assimilation. However, a gradual decline in growth with increasing salt levels could be attributed to the diversion of energy from growth to maintain salinity homeostasis and anti-stress oxidative mechanisms.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alhagi sparsifolia acclimatizes to saline stress by regulating its osmotic, antioxidant, and nitrogen assimilation potential

et al. 2022

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“…ephemerals, resurrection plants, and perennials with no active leaves in the dry season) they cannot effectively take up nutrients, and thus the addition of fertilizer would not impact plant biomass. By contrast, phreatophytes, that remain active despite water scarcity, can benefit from higher nutrient availability, improving their tolerance to drought (Ullah et al, 2022;Tariq et al, 2022b). For instance, phreatophytes such as A. sparsifolia and Calligonum mongolicum under N fertilization increased root and shoot biomass, antioxidant defence system, osmolytes and nutrients accumulation (Zhang et al, 2020(Zhang et al, , 2021b; Table S1).…”

Section: Fertilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant root mechanisms and their effects on carbon and nutrient accumulation in desert ecosystems under changes in land use and climate

Tariq,

Graciano,

Sardans

et al. 2024

New Phytologist

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SummaryDeserts represent key carbon reservoirs, yet as these systems are threatened this has implications for biodiversity and climate change. This review focuses on how these changes affect desert ecosystems, particularly plant root systems and their impact on carbon and mineral nutrient stocks. Desert plants have diverse root architectures shaped by water acquisition strategies, affecting plant biomass and overall carbon and nutrient stocks. Climate change can disrupt desert plant communities, with droughts impacting both shallow and deep‐rooted plants as groundwater levels fluctuate. Vegetation management practices, like grazing, significantly influence plant communities, soil composition, root microorganisms, biomass, and nutrient stocks. Shallow‐rooted plants are particularly susceptible to climate change and human interference. To safeguard desert ecosystems, understanding root architecture and deep soil layers is crucial. Implementing strategic management practices such as reducing grazing pressure, maintaining moderate harvesting levels, and adopting moderate fertilization can help preserve plant–soil systems. Employing socio‐ecological approaches for community restoration enhances carbon and nutrient retention, limits desert expansion, and reduces CO2 emissions. This review underscores the importance of investigating belowground plant processes and their role in shaping desert landscapes, emphasizing the urgent need for a comprehensive understanding of desert ecosystems.

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“…The coordination of foliar and root functional traits in desert species is of great ecological importance for adapting to water scarcity and nutrient deprivation, particularly during harsh drought conditions (Gao et al, 2023). A root system that extends to the groundwater (mainly phreatophytes), a high root:crown ratio, small or evolved into distorted branches, and low N and P concentrations in leaves are all adaptive traits of desert species to cope with adverse conditions (Liu et al, 2016; Tariq et al, 2022a). Research in hyper‐arid desert ecosystems has found that the concentrations of soil labile P and foliar total P are much lower in desert plants than in other species (Gao et al, 2022a, b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fine‐root traits are devoted to the allocation of foliar phosphorus fractions of desert species under water and phosphorus‐poor environments

Gao,

Tariq,

Zeng

et al. 2023

Physiologia Plantarum

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Traits of leaves and fine roots are expected to predict the responses and adaptation of plants to their environments. Whether and how fine‐root traits (FRTs) are associated with the allocation of foliar phosphorus (P) fractions of desert species in water‐ and P‐poor environments, however, remains unclear. We exposed seedlings of Alhagi sparsifolia Shap. (hereafter Alhagi) treated with two water and four P‐supply levels for three years in open‐air pot experiments and measured the concentrations of foliar P fractions, foliar traits, and FRTs. The allocation proportion of foliar nucleic acid‐P and acid phosphatase (APase) activity of fine roots were significantly higher by 45.94 and 53.3% in drought and no‐P treatments relative to well‐watered and high‐P treatments, whereas foliar metabolic‐P and structural‐P were significantly lower by 3.70 and 5.26%. Allocation proportions of foliar structural‐P and residual‐P were positively correlated with fine‐root P (FRP) concentration, but nucleic acid‐P concentration was negatively correlated with FRP concentration. A tradeoff was found between the allocation proportion to all foliar P fractions relative to the FRP concentration, fine‐root APase activity, and amounts of carboxylates, followed by fine‐root morphological traits. The requirement for a link between the aboveground and underground tissues of Alhagi was generally higher in the drought than the well‐watered treatment. Altering FRTs and the allocation of P to foliar nucleic acid‐P were two coupled strategies of Alhagi under conditions of drought and/or low‐P. These results advance our understanding of the strategies for allocating foliar P by mediating FRTs in drought and P‐poor environments.

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Alhagi sparsifolia: An ideal phreatophyte for combating desertification and land degradation

Cited by 34 publications

References 80 publications

Alhagi sparsifolia acclimatizes to saline stress by regulating its osmotic, antioxidant, and nitrogen assimilation potential

Alhagi sparsifolia acclimatizes to saline stress by regulating its osmotic, antioxidant, and nitrogen assimilation potential

Plant root mechanisms and their effects on carbon and nutrient accumulation in desert ecosystems under changes in land use and climate

Fine‐root traits are devoted to the allocation of foliar phosphorus fractions of desert species under water and phosphorus‐poor environments

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