No neighbour-induced increase in root growth of soybean and sunflower in mesh-divider experiments after controlling for nutrient concentration and soil volume
| Autor: | Chen, Bin J.W., Huang, Li, During, Heinjo J., Wang, Xinyu, Wei, Jiahe, Anten, Niels P.R., Ecology and Biodiversity, Sub Ecology and Biodiversity |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Ecology and Biodiversity, Sub Ecology and Biodiversity |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
media_common.quotation_subject
Ideal free distribution Plant Science Biology Competition (biology) Intraspecific competition Root competition Nutrient Aobpla/1048 Neighbour detection Helianthus annuus Studies Aobpla/1009 Ecosystem Game theory media_common Aobpla/1001 Biomass (ecology) AcademicSubjects/SCI01210 fungi food and beverages PE&RC Sunflower Tragedy of the commons Agronomy Mesh divider Crop and Weed Ecology |
| Zdroj: | AoB Plants, 13(3) AoB Plants 13 (2021) 3 AoB PLANTS, 13(3), 1. Oxford University Press AoB Plants |
| ISSN: | 2041-2851 |
| Popis: | Root competition is a key factor determining plant performance, community structure and ecosystem productivity. To adequately estimate the extent of root proliferation of plants in response to neighbours independently of nutrient availability, one should use a set-up that can simultaneously control for both nutrient concentration and soil volume at plant individual level. With a mesh-divider design, which was suggested as a promising solution for this problem, we conducted two intraspecific root competition experiments: one with soybean (Glycine max) and the other with sunflower (Helianthus annuus). We found no response of root growth or biomass allocation to intraspecific neighbours, i.e. an ‘ideal free distribution’ (IFD) norm, in soybean; and even a reduced growth as a negative response in sunflower. These responses are all inconsistent with the hypothesis that plants should produce more roots even at the expense of reduced fitness in response to neighbours, i.e. root over-proliferation. Our results suggest that neighbour-induced root over-proliferation is not a ubiquitous feature in plants. By integrating the findings with results from other soybean studies, we conclude that for some species this response could be a genotype-dependent response as a result of natural or artificial selection, or a context-dependent response so that plants can switch from root over-proliferation to IFD depending on the environment of competition. We also critically discuss whether the mesh-divider design is an ideal solution for root competition experiments. Game-theoretical models predict that plants should overinvest in root growth beyond the communal optimum in competition for soil resources. This phenomenon is often coined as a ‘tragedy of the commons’. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two greenhouse experiments on intraspecific root competition using a mesh-divider design to control for both nutrient concentration and soil volume in two common crop species, soybean and sunflower. In contrast to this hypothesis, we showed that in mesh-divided below-ground competition, soybean plants grew roots regardless of neighbours, and sunflower plants even had a tendency to underinvest in root growth. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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