ArticleAnnals of botany2022
Interspecific interactions alter plant functional strategies in a revegetated shrub-dominated community in the Mu Us Desert, China.
Article in Annals of botany, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Adaptive Strategies of Desert Shrub Stem-Leaf Anatomical Traits in the High-Altitude Qaidam Basin.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Leaf carbon isotope tracks the facilitation pattern of legume shrubs shaped by water availability and species replacement along a large elevation gradient in Trans-Himalayas.Annals of botany · 2023Article
- Reduced trace gas oxidizers as a response to organic carbon availability linked to oligotrophs in desert fertile islands.The ISME journal · 2023Article
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7 authors.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsPrevious studies investigating plant-plant interactions have focused on plant growth, context dependence and shifts in interactive outcomes. However, changes in functional traits in the context of interactions have been inadequately explored; few studies have focused on the effects of interactions on the plasticity of functional strategies.
methodsWe conducted a 4-year removal experiment for the xeric shrub Artemisia ordosica and perennial graminoids (PGs) in the Mu Us Desert, northern China. Soil nutrient content, biomass and 12 functional traits related to plant morphology and nutrient status were measured for the shrub species and a dominant PG species (i.e. Leymus secalinus) in the presence and absence of shrubs and PGs. KEY
resultsShrubs affected the functional traits of L. secalinus, reducing leaf dry matter content and increasing plant height, which probably promoted the functional strategy of L. secalinus towards a more resource-acquisitive and competitive strategy. In contrast, when the shrubs were affected by PGs, they shifted towards a resource-conservative and stress-tolerative strategy, by increasing leaf dry matter content and decreasing specific leaf area. Moreover, the shrub species relied more on internal nutrient recycling (higher nitrogen resorption efficiency) rather than on external nitrogen uptake under nitrogen competition; instead, L. secalinus tended to exhibit higher external nitrogen uptake from soil during nitrogen shortages.
conclusionsThis study indicated that the functional strategies and nutrient cycling of the shrub species and the dominant PG were altered by each other. The shifts in functional traits may help plants to coexist in the community for a relatively long time. Our findings highlighted that interspecific interactions alter plant functional strategies and provided new insights into community assembly and succession mechanisms in a revegetated shrubland for ecological restoration of drylands.
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