Effects of Temporal Heterogeneity of Water Supply and Spatial Heterogeneity of Soil Nutrients on the Growth and Intraspecific Competition of Bolboschoenus yagara Depend on Plant Density

Abstract

Clonal plants may face various types of resource heterogeneity in their natural habitats; as such, spatial or temporal resource heterogeneity can affect the growth of clonal plants. Clonal plants can concentrate their organs in a smaller area where resources are high would cause heterogeneity to increase competition between plants. Most studies on resource heterogeneity have investigated the response of plants under a single density or by manipulating a single resource. Few studies have tested the effects of the heterogeneous distribution of two covariable resources on plant growth and intraspecific competition. A greenhouse experiment was therefore conducted to study plant responses to the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the soil and water supply under a variety of plant densities (one, two, four, or six plants per container). The perennial clonal herb Bolboschoenus yagara was grown under different combinations of water supply patterns, soil nutrient distribution types and plant densities while maintaining the total water and soil nutrient availability per container constant. Compared with that at a relatively high plant density, soil nutrient heterogeneity resulted in significantly less total plant biomass and less-modified morphological traits when the plant density is relative low. At the highest plant density, compared with the homogeneous soil treatments, the heterogeneous soil treatments significantly increased the total biomass and R/S ratio. Water supply patterns also clearly affected plant morphological traits at the highest plant density. Furthermore, soil heterogeneity significantly increased intraspecific competition intensity at low plant densities, but did not significantly affect intraspecific competition intensity at higher plant densities. Water heterogeneity had little impact on intraspecific competition. These results suggest that the growth performance and intraspecific competition of B. yagara are more strongly affected by soil nutrient distribution rather than by water supply patterns and that competition for soil nutrients may increase plant sensitivity to soil heterogeneity.

Effects of a spatially heterogeneous nutrient distribution on the growth of clonal wetland plants

“…Plants in natural habitats often experience heterogeneity in the spatial and temporal distribution of soil nutrients [21,46]. Wetland plants, especially emergent macrophytes, are sensitive to the distribution of soil pollutants and nutrients during their growth process [7,45]. In addition, clonal plants often exhibit more sensitive reactions than non-clonal plants; for example, the ramets of clonal plants interconnected by spacers (rhizomes, stolons, etc.)…”

Growth and Yield Variability of Corn (Zea mays), Carrot (Daucus carota), Peas (Pisum sativum) and Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) Grown in Fallow and Unfallow Standoff Alberta Community Garden Soils

“…These may be due to water shortage and predominant high temperature in Southern Alberta this year (Tubiello et al, 2007). The results of Yu et al (2019) on Bolboschoenus plants also supported some plant varieties accumulate greater biomass and yield under heterogeneous conditions than under homogeneous conditions, given the same level of available concentration of nutrients. Both fallow and unfallow soils influenced heterogeneous soil nutrients availability in different area (locations) under the same rate of fertilizer application (Hutchings & Wijesinghe, 2008;García-Palacios et al, 2011).…”

“…Water supply is the one of the requirement for plant growth. It was confirmed that a stable water supply (homogeneity of water supply) can promote plant root systems to absorb water more efficiently and thus grow larger plants (Novoplansky and Goldberg, 2001;Hagiwara et al, 2012, Yu et al 2019).…”

“…Inadequate homogenous application of fertilizer caused the leaves of the corn to turn pale yellow which pave way for addition of urea fertilizer. Yu et al (2019) confirmed relative nutrient concentrations in different soil areas (soil nutrient heterogeneity) can determine the extent to which plants concentrate more nutrient-absorbing organs in areas where nutrients are high. There is always increase in biomass shoot and root system in the location of the soil that contains high nutrients (Gersani et al, 1998;Fransen et al, 2001;Day et al, 2003b).…”

Impact of Land-Use/Land-Cover Change on Drinking Water Ecosystem Services in Wami River Basin, Tanzania

“…Studies have showed that the effects of LU/LC on ecosystem services differ temporally and spatially [22,[30][31][32][33]. Water supply services are susceptible since they are exposed to severe natural stresses related to interactions among biophysical factors, which considerably increase their heterogeneity from a temporal and spatial perspective [34,35]. Several relatively static influences (soil, topography, and geology) and dynamic influences (land use, land management, and climate) interact to control water access and how it will be distributed to competing users [23].…”