Plant root response to heterogeneity of soil resources: Effects of nutrient patches, AM symbiosis, and species composition

• Marie Šmilauerová ^[1]
  1. [1] Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
• Localización: Folia geobotánica: A journal of plant ecology and systematics, ISSN-e 1874-9348, ISSN 1211-9520, Vol. 36, Nº 4, 2001, págs. 337-351
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Response of the underground parts of a whole grassland community to heterogeneity in soil resources was studied under field conditions. The increased availability of nutrients (N, P) in patches was combined with suppression ofarbuscular myeorrhizal symbiosis (by fungicide benomyl) and with modification of substrate structure (sieved soil, sieved soil mixed with coarse or fine sand). Three experimental runs were established in 1999, each with seven replicate blocks. Root and rhizome biomass was determined before the experimental treatment and atter 53 days of the experiment. Plant community composition in neighbourhood of patches was recorded. Nutrient application had the most pronounced effect on the root biomass grown into the patches (the root biomass increased 1.64 times). The root biomass in patches with fungicide application was I. 17 times higher than in the untreated patches. The modification of substrate structure had no effect on the root biomass in patches but it did modify the effect ofbenomyl. The amount of root biomass proliferating into the patches was not related to species composition of vegetation near the patches. However, higher frequency of grass tillers in the patch neighbourhood and the mycorrhizal status of neighbouring species correlated significantly with the amount of root biomass in the experimental patches. In the pre-treatment community, amount of root biomass was significantly related to the abundance of grasses and myeorrhizal forbs surrounding the sampling points.