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Biomass reallocation and the mobilization of leaf resources support dune plant growth after sand burial
Author(s) -
Gilbert Matthew E.,
Ripley Brad S.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
physiologia plantarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.351
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1399-3054
pISSN - 0031-9317
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-3054.2008.01153.x
Subject(s) - biomass (ecology) , mobilization , plant growth , environmental science , agronomy , botany , biology , geography , archaeology
The stimulation of dune plant growth in response to burial is a vital attribute allowing survival in areas of mobile sand. Numerous resource‐related and physiological mechanisms of growth stimulation have been suggested in the past, but few have been tested comparatively. Manipulation experiments using Scaevola plumieri , an important subtropical coastal dune forming species, demonstrated that physiological shifts were of great importance in determining the nature of the stimulation response to burial. The production of stem length and replacement of leaf area were stimulated by burial, whereas net mass production was similar between buried and unburied treatments. Remobilization of buried leaf resources, seasonal effects, and a shift in biomass allocation to stem production played the greatest role in the compensatory growth response. Other factors, such as increased soil nutrients, changes in photosynthesis, and changes in the costs of producing tissue were of less importance. Thus, the stimulated growth of species adapted to live on mobile dunes is explained by a number of resource‐related and physiological mechanisms acting in concert.