Drought resistance of Pinus sylvestris seedlings conferred by plastic root architecture rather than ectomycorrhizal colonisation

Autor: Barbara Moser, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Simon Egli, Tabea Kipfer, Sarah Richter
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Annals of Forest Science
Annals of Forest Science, Springer Nature (since 2011)/EDP Science (until 2010), 2015, 72 (3), pp.303-309. ⟨10.1007/s13595-014-0380-6⟩
ANNALS OF FOREST SCIENCE
ISSN: 1286-4560
1297-966X
DOI: 10.1007/s13595-014-0380-6⟩
Popis: International audience; Abstract ContextIncreased summer drought is considered as a threat to the regeneration of Pinus sylvestris in the Central Alps. To a certain degree, seedlings are able to mitigate negative effects of drought by altering root/shoot ratios. But, seedlings may also enhance access to water and nutrients by cooperation with ectomycorrhizal fungi. AimsWe tested the importance of both mechanisms for drought resistance of P. sylvestris seedlings during early establishment and assessed whether differences occur between topsoil and deeper soil layers. MethodsBiomass allocation and colonisation of fine roots by ectomycorrhizal fungi were assessed in seedlings grown for 6 months in a common garden under different precipitation scenarios: constant drought (March–September), summer drought (June–September), and wet conditions. ResultsRoot/shoot ratios increased from 0.6 under wet conditions to 0.8 under drought conditions, irrespective of the onset of the drought (March vs. June). In both drought scenarios, seedlings had shorter roots in the topsoil, increased the number of root tips per root length in both soil layers, but did not alter the colonisation rate of root tips by ectomycorrhizal fungi. ConclusionWe conclude that plasticity in root architecture is an important mechanism for drought resistance of P. sylvestris during early seedling establishment.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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