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Mechanical shaking and soil water affect the growth of Psammochloa villosa in the Mu Us Sandland |
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| Authors: | Y.-H. Wang M. DongF.-H. Yu H. JiangS.-Q. Yu X.-Q. LinW.-M. He |
| Affiliation: | a State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China b Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Carbon Cycling in Forest Ecosystems and Carbon Sequestration, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China c College of Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China |
| Abstract: | The Mu Us Sandland is basically characterized by water shortage and high wind. Thus, wind-induced mechanical perturbation (MP) and soil water availability are likely to interact to affect plant growth. Since high water availability and MP can induce responses that are in the opposite direction, we hypothesized that MP effects on perennial grasses might be mitigated by increased soil water availability in the Mu Us Sandland. We counducted an experiment in which seedlings of Psammochloa villosa were subjected to two levels of MP (non-MP vs. MP 1 min d−1) and two levels of water availability (200 ml d−1vs. 400 ml d−1) and measured three plant traits. MP significantly decreased plant height, total biomass, and root/shoot ratio. There were significant interactions between MP and soil water availability on plant height and root/shoot ratio. These findings imply that MP alone is a stressful factor for P. villosa and MP effects on its growth can be partially mitigated by increased soil water availability, and also suggest that P. villosa may respond to MP in a way that allows plants to survive in the windy semiarid environments. |
| Keywords: | Growth Psammochloa villosa Suppression Thigmomorphogenesis Water |
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