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Allometry of Salsola collina in response to soil nutrients, water supply and population density
Author(s) -
Huang Yingxin,
Zhao Xueyong,
Zhou Daowei,
Zhao Halin,
Zhang Hongxiang,
Zuo Xiaoan,
Mao Wei
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
nordic journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.333
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1756-1051
pISSN - 0107-055X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-1051.2009.00382.x
Subject(s) - biology , nutrient , biomass (ecology) , allometry , phenotypic plasticity , population , agronomy , population density , botany , soil nutrients , ecology , demography , sociology
The allometry of greenhouse‐grown Salsola collina Pall. in response to variation in soil nutrient content, water supply and population density has been compared. The results showed that the biomass allocation was size‐dependent. Root, stem, leaf and reproductive allocation showed a ‘true’ plasticity in response to soil nutrient variation. At low soil nutrient content, plants tended to allocate more biomass to the development of reproductive organs than to stem and leaf, but root allocation was consistent due to a tradeoff between the effects of plant size and soil nutrient content. The plasticity of stem allocation and reproductive effort was ‘true’, while the plasticity of root allocation was ‘apparent’, but there was no plasticity for leaf allocation in response to soil water variation. At lower soil water content, plants tended to allocate more biomass to the stem than to development of reproductive organs. With the exception of ‘apparent’ plasticity of root allocation, no plasticity was detected in biomass allocation when population density was varied.