ArticleAnnals of botany2014
Sensitivity of growth and biomass allocation patterns to increasing nitrogen: a comparison between ephemerals and annuals in the Gurbantunggut Desert, north-western China.
Article in Annals of botany, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Influence Pattern and Mechanism of Increased Nitrogen Deposition and AM Fungi on Soil Microbial Community in Desert Ecosystems.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Article
- Contrasting allocation patterns in wheat and weeds: allometric belowground and reproductive investment versus optimal partitioning adaptations.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Article
- Article
- Above- and belowground biomass allocation and its regulation by plant density in six common grassland species in China.Journal of plant research · 2022Article
- Effects of biotic and abiotic factors on forest biomass fractions.National science review · 2021Article
- Is Plant Life-History of Biseasonal Germination Consistent in Response to Extreme Precipitation?Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Effects of increased precipitation on the life history of spring- and autumn-germinated plants of the cold desert annualAoB PLANTS · 2019Article
- The Growth and N Retention of Two Annual Desert Plants Varied Under Different Nitrogen Deposition Rates.Frontiers in plant science · 2019Article
- Functional traits partially mediate the effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on the growth of a tropical tree.AoB PLANTS · 2018Article
- Allometric biomass partitioning under nitrogen enrichment: Evidence from manipulative experiments around the world.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Sensitivity of the xerophytic moss Syntrichia caninervis to prolonged simulated nitrogen deposition.Annals of botany · 2016Article
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsBiomass accumulation and allocation patterns are critical to quantifying ecosystem dynamics. However, these patterns differ among species, and they can change in response to nutrient availability even among genetically related individuals. In order to understand this complexity further, this study examined three ephemeral species (with very short vegetative growth periods) and three annual species (with significantly longer vegetative growth periods) in the Gurbantunggut Desert, north-western China, to determine their responses to different nitrogen (N) supplements under natural conditions.
methodsNitrogen was added to the soil at rates of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 3.0, 6.0 and 24.0 g N m(-2) year(-1). Plants were sampled at various intervals to measure relative growth rate and shoot and root dry mass. KEY
resultsCompared with annuals, ephemerals grew more rapidly, increased shoot and root biomass with increasing N application rates and significantly decreased root/shoot ratios. Nevertheless, changes in the biomass allocation of some species (i.e. Erodium oxyrrhynchum) in response to the N treatment were largely a consequence of changes in overall plant size, which was inconsistent with an optimal partitioning model. An isometric log shoot vs. log root scaling relationship for the final biomass harvest was observed for each species and all annuals, while pooled data of three ephemerals showed an allometric scaling relationship.
conclusionsThese results indicate that ephemerals and annuals differ observably in their biomass allocation patterns in response to soil N supplements, although an isometric log shoot vs. log root scaling relationship was maintained across all species. These findings highlight that different life history strategies behave differently in response to N application even when interspecific scaling relationships remain nearly isometric.
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