Soil heterogeneity affects ramet placement of Hydrocotyle vulgaris  

作　　者：Bi-Cheng Dong Jiu-Zhong Wang Rui-Hua Liu Ming-Xiang Zhang Fang-Li Luo Fei-Hai Yu 

机构地区：[1]School of Nature Conservation,Beijing Forestry University,Qinghua East Road 35,Haidian District,Beijing 100083,China [2]School of Forestry,Beijing Forestry University,Qinghua East Road 35,Haidian District,Beijing 100083,China [3]Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Shuangqing Road 18,Haidian District,Beijing 100085,China

出　　处：《Journal of Plant Ecology》2015年第1期91-100,共10页植物生态学报（英文版）

基　　金：Specific Programs in Graduate Science and Technology Innovation of Beijing Forestry University(BLYJ201204);the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(TD-JC-2013-1);the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University(NECT-10-0234);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31200314).

摘　　要：Aims Soil heterogeneity is common in natural habitats.It may trigger for-aging responses(placing more ramets and/or roots in nutrient-rich patches than in nutrient-poor patches)and further affect the growth of plants.However,the impact of soil heterogeneity on competitive interactions has been little tested.Methods We conducted a greenhouse experiment to investigate the effects of soil heterogeneity on intraspecific competition with a stolonif-erous herb Hydrocotyle vulgaris.We grew one(without com-petition)or nine ramets(with competition)of H.vulgaris under a homogeneous environment and two heterogeneous environ-ments differing in patch size(large or small patches).In the het-erogeneous treatment,the soil consisted of the same number of nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor patches arranged in a chessboard manner,and in the homogeneous treatment,the soil was an even mixture of the same amount of the nutrient-rich and the nutrient-poor soil.Important Findings Irrespective of intraspecific competition,H.vulgaris showed for-aging responses to soil heterogeneity in the large patch treatment,e.g.it produced significantly more biomass,ramets,aboveground mass and root mass in the nutrient-rich patches than in the nutrient-poor patches.In the small patch treatment,foraging responses were observed when intraspecific competition was present,but responses were not observed when there was no competition.However,we find a significant effect of soil heterogeneity on neither overall growth nor competitive intensity of H.vulgaris.Our results suggest that foraging responses to soil heterogeneity may not necessarily be adaptive and intraspecific competition may not be influenced by soil heterogeneity.

关 键 词：clonal plant COMPETITION environmental heterogeneity foraging response patch size physiological integration 

分 类 号：S15[农业科学—土壤学]