On the run for water – Root growth of two phreatophytes in the Taklamakan Desert

Vonlanthen, Beatrix; Zhang, X.; Bruelheide, Helge

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2010.07.004

Cited by 20 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Usually, plants are not forced to grow roots to deeper horizons i fw a t e ri sa d d e df r o mt h et o p .F o re x a m p l e ,f o rc o r n on sandy soils Laboski et al (1998) found 85 % of total root length in the uppermost 30 cm and 94 % in the uppermost 60 cm. As to be expected, g s in the 10-20 cm watering treatment remained highest in the course of the experiment, but plants at the other moisture regimes were forced to invest more into roots, which finally resulted in the disappearance of any sig-nificant differences in biomass among water levels (Vonlanthen et al 2010). Thus, the way water was added to the tubes can mimic water supply as encountered under natural conditions.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

“…The method is easily implemented and might be extended to tubes longer than 1 m depth (see Vonlanthen et al 2010) and to other types of substrate. In addition, roots can be observed and soil moisture measurements taken in a non-destructive manner.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The median g s across all watering levels at the first three measuring dates in our experiment was below 50 mmol H 2 Om À2 s À1 , which is below the threshold considered a signal for drought stress (Flexas et al 2006) Table 4 ANOVA of the linear model (lm) for differences of photosynthesis (at 380 ppm CO 2 , 1000 lEm À2 s À1 PAR and ambient temperature), relative growth rates (RGR) and absolute values between provenances (P) and watering levels (WL) and their interaction (Chaves et al 2002;B r é da et al 2006;McDowell et al 2008;Vonlanthen et al 2010), but was more pronounced at WL 2 and 3 than at WL1. This difference might be explained by the tendency of an increased relative growth rate for the number of root tips and of roots to grow longer at WL 2 and WL 3 than at WL 1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The response of three Fagus sylvatica L. provenances to water availability at different soil depths

Baudis

Premper

Welk

et al. 2015

Ecological Research

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Current climate change scenarios predict changes in precipitation patterns resulting in a longer and more intensive droughts. These changes pose a challenge for Fagus sylvatica as the most common European deciduous tree species. We asked how different genotypes respond to drought conditions and paid particular attention to how soil moisture availability can be manipulated. We established a tube technique that allowed to add water horizontally at different rooting depths, which allowed to measure water contents and to observe root growth along the full length of 1-m deep tubes. Three F. sylvatica provenances were compared in their response to different depth of water supply with respect to growth, leaf stomatal conductance as well as root and leaf traits. There were short-lasting differences between the watering regimes in soil water content and depth of soil moisture maxima. Adding water to depths of 30-60 cm resulted in reduced leaf stomatal conductance and lower survival but increased root tip growth rates compared to watering the tubes at 10-20 cm. There were differences between the three provenances for specific leaf area and stem dry mass, which however, were independent of the watering regime and did not support the idea of local adaptation to drought of populations from dry or moist origins. The findings indicate that differences between provenances might have been caused by environmental factors other than drought. Technically, we demonstrated the high potential of using the tube technique for a fine-tuned manipulation of soil moisture in the rooting space.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The response of three Fagus sylvatica L. provenances to water availability at different soil depths

Baudis

Premper

Welk

et al. 2015

Ecological Research

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“…; Vonlanthen et al. ). The coefficient of vertical biomass distribution indicates the steepness of declining C with increasing hs .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Mechanisms promoting tree species co‐existence: Experimental evidence with saplings of subtropical forest ecosystems of China

Lang

Härdtle

Baruffol

et al. 2012

J Vegetation Science

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Questions: The maintenance of a diverse sapling pool is of particular importance for the regeneration and persistance of species-rich forest ecosystems. However, the mechanisms of co-existence of saplings have rarely been studied experimentally. Do species richness, species composition, species identity and stand density affect the co-existence, growth patterns and crown architecture of tree saplings?Location: Jiangxi Province, southeast China. Methods:In a field experiment, we manipulated the local neighbourhood of saplings of four early-successional subtropical species (Schima superba, Elaeocarpus decipiens, Quercus serrata and Castanea henryi) with regard to species richness (one, two and four species), species composition (monocultures, six-two-species combinations and one-four-species combination) and stand density (low, intermediate and high). We tested for treatment effects and impact of species identity on growth variables, biomass allocation, crown architectural traits and branch demography.Results: Species richness was a poor predictor of all response variables, but enhanced pruning and branch turnover. In contrast, species composition proved to be of great importance for growth, biomass allocation, crown architecture and branch demography. Local neighbourhood interactions of saplings were characterized by complementary or facilitative, as well as by competitive mechanisms. Intra-specific competition was higher than inter-specific competition for two species (C. henryi, Q. serrata) depending on the respective species combination. To a high degree, the competitive ability of species can be explained by species identity. Competition for light likely played a major role in our experiment, as evidenced by the strong response of crown architecture and branch demography to the manipulated predictor variables.Conclusions: Effects of species composition and species identity on growth rates and crown architecture variables of tree saplings point to niche separation as a mechanism of species co-existence, while effects of species richness were not yet prominent at the sapling life stage.

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“…A. sparsifolia was able to reach the groundwater table in the river valleys (6.5 m) within a time span of 5-6 months after germination, so at early stage of plant growth, A. sparsifolia allocated more substance for the root growth to adapt the extreme drought (Vonlanthen et al 2010). The formation of root biomass conformed to a logistic 'slow-quick-slow' growth curve, and total biomass decreased with intensity of soil drought (Zeng et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Impact of girdling and leaf removal on Alhagi sparsifolia leaf senescence

Guo-Ning

Lin

et al. 2015

Plant Growth Regul

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Leaf senescence can be described as the dismantling of cellular components during the terminal stage in the development of plant organs and tissues. In order to determine the leaf senescence process when stem girdling and leaf removal both exist. An experiment was carried out in Alhagi sparsifolia, which grew in the Cele oasis-desert transitional zone with the treatment of control (CK), phloem girdling (PG), leaf removal (LR), and combined girdling and removal (GR). Some parameters related to leaf senescence were measured at the 1st and 30th day postgirdling. The results showed that after PG and GR, leaf soluble sugar content, starch content, abscisic acid content, proline content, and malondialdehyde content increased substantially and leaf photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, photosynthetic pigment content, and water potential decreased substantially compared with CK. It also changed much more in PG leaves than in GR leaves. The change in LR leaves was opposite to that of PG and GR leaves, but the change was rather slight. The result of the present work implied that senescence of leaves treated with PG greatly accelerates, and the accumulation of carbohydrates and ABA in leaves is probably the main reason for this. Separate LR could play a role in delaying leaf senescence in plants; however, this delay effect was not obvious. Nevertheless, partial removal of leaves led to a significant compensation of girdling effects, i.e., senescence will be delayed significantly in girdled leaves when treated with partial LR.

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On the run for water – Root growth of two phreatophytes in the Taklamakan Desert

Cited by 20 publications

References 44 publications

The response of three Fagus sylvatica L. provenances to water availability at different soil depths

The response of three Fagus sylvatica L. provenances to water availability at different soil depths

Mechanisms promoting tree species co‐existence: Experimental evidence with saplings of subtropical forest ecosystems of China

Impact of girdling and leaf removal on Alhagi sparsifolia leaf senescence

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