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Foraging responses of clonal plants to multi-patch environmental heterogeneity: spatial preference and temporal reversibility

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Abstract

Background and aims

Plant root placement is highly plastic in order to acquire patchily distributed nutrients and to ensure their survival, growth and reproduction. Considering the spatial extension of clonal organs, we selected two clonal plants (Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel. and Hierochloe glabra Trin.) to determine the spatio-temporal effects of environmental heterogeneity on belowground organs and newly-born ramets.

Methods

Small-scale and multi-patch heterogeneous environments were manipulated by creating four patches filled with different types of soil in a same pot. The four patches were composed of sandy soil, sandy loam, loam soil and humus soil, respectively. Ramet number, bud number, mean spacer length, rhizome length, and biomass allocation within each patch were measured to identify plant foraging responses.

Results

The preferential patch of L. chinensis was humus soil patch which was the highest in nutrient availability, whereas H. glabra preferred to place ramets in sandy loam and loam soil patches. When growing in homogeneous environments, both species randomly rooted their offspring ramets in the four compartments. In heterogeneous environments, foraging responses were detected in ramet placement, aboveground biomass and total rhizome length. However, there were no differences in bud number or belowground biomass among four types of patches in heterogeneous environments, which might suggest that there would be no inter-patch differences in seedling establishment in the next year.

Conclusions

Plants show selective allocation of offspring ramets to preferential patches in the presence of multi-patch environmental heterogeneity. Responses of H. glabra to multi-patch heterogeneity were faster than those of L. chinensis, demonstrating that the foraging patterns are species-specific. Clonal plants can rapidly respond to environmental heterogeneity, whereas foraging responses are potentially reversible over a longer temporal scale.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B.T. Zhang, M.J. Xing, L.L. Lu, X.Y. Wang, Z.J. Bai, S.Z. Jia, J. Cui and S.N. Sun for their technical assistance and help in the field. This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31070375; 31100331), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20070200005; 20100043120009), and the Natural Scientific Foundation of Jilin Province, China (No. 20101556; 20100150).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Grassland Science, Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, People’s Republic of China

    Ying Gao, Fu Xing, Yongjun Jin, Dandan Nie & Ying Wang

  2. Institute of Grassland Science, Northeast Normal University, No. 5268, Renmin Street, Changchun, Jilin Province, 130024, People’s Republic of China

    Fu Xing

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  1. Ying Gao
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  5. Ying Wang
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Correspondence to Fu Xing.

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Responsible Editor: Harry Olde Venterink.

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Gao, Y., Xing, F., Jin, Y. et al. Foraging responses of clonal plants to multi-patch environmental heterogeneity: spatial preference and temporal reversibility. Plant Soil 359, 137–147 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1148-0

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