Effect of population density on the allometric growth of Agriophyllum squarrosum

doi:10.11686/cyxb2016147

Abstract

Abstract: The allometric relationships between plant organs determine the strategies of life history, affecting the coexistence and biodiversity of species. Traditional methods are not able to distinguish the responses of plant traits to environmental or genetic differences but allometric analysis can help solve this problem. Allometric analysis was used to study the relationships between different organs of Agriophyllum squarrosum by simulating different population densities of A. squarrosum (16, 44.4, 100 and 400 plants/m²) during the restoration of degraded grassland. The results showed that there are significant allometric relationships between organ pairs. Changes in root vs. aboveground biomass, root vs. main stem biomass, leaf vs. root biomass and main stem vs. aboveground biomass were not influenced by population density, indicating ‘apparent plasticity’. The allometric relationships of root vs. stem, stem vs. aboveground, leaf vs. stem biomass and their respective biomass ratio were significantly affected by population density, reflecting ‘real plasticity’. The allometric index of leaf vs. aboveground biomass at 44.4 plants/m² was approximately 0.75, while the allometric indices at other plant densities were significantly different from 0.75 (P<0.001), suggesting that environmental changes resulted in changes in growth strategy of A. squarrosum. The influence of population density on the allometric relationships between reproductive and other organs is not significant, indicating that A. squarrosum will adopt the same strategy under different densities, but that density differences will result in different allometric scaling and size of individual reproductive organ during different periods of reproductive development. It is important to consider changes in plant growth stages when investigating the relationships between reproductive organs and individual plants.

FAN Gao-Hua, HUANG Ying-Xin, ZHAO Xue-Yong, SHEN Xiang-Jin. Effect of population density on the allometric growth of Agriophyllum squarrosum[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2017, 26(3): 53-64.

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