Abstract
Background and aims
Water is fundamental to the growth of plants by participating in plant metabolism, and nutrient transport and maintaining the integrity of the hydraulic system. Knowledge of water use characteristics among co-occurring plant species is crucial for understanding the ecohydrological processes and community assemblages. However, interspecific interactions with respect to water sources and physiological activity remain poorly understood.
Methods
The stable oxygen isotope values of xylem and soil water, and leaf physiological characteristics were measured in three communities in the Mu Us Desert, northwest China: a mixed shrub and grasses community; a pure shrub community; and a pure grasses community.
Results
In mixed communities, the main water source for shrubs shifted to deeper soil layers than in pure communities, whereas grass water use switched to shallower soil layers. Leaf photosynthetic rates, stomatal conductance, transpiration, and water potential of both species were significantly lower in mixed communities than in pure communities. These results suggest that interspecific interactions influenced plant water use patterns. The water-use efficiency of shrubs increased in mixed communities, whereas that of grasses decreased, indicating that grasses exacerbated water stress on shrubs, while shrubs relieved water stress on grasses. Additionally, leaf physiological activity was positively correlated with shallower water sources and negatively correlated with deeper water sources.
Conclusion
Our findings show that plants responded to interspecific interactions under drought conditions through the coupling of plant water sources with leaf physiologies. The present study provides important insights into water-related reforestation and ecological management in dryland ecosystems.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
Data will be made available on request.
References
Aguadé D, Poyatos R, Rosas T, Martínez-Vilalta J (2015) Comparative drought responses of Quercus ilex L and Pinus sylvestris L in a montane forest undergoing a vegetation shift. Forests 6:2505–2529. https://doi.org/10.3390/f6082505
Ansley RJ, Boutton TW, Jacoby PW (2014) Root biomass and distribution patterns in a semi-arid Mesquite Savanna: responses to long-term rainfall manipulation. Rangel Ecol Manage 67:206–218. https://doi.org/10.2111/REM-D-13-00119.1
Armas C, Kikvidze Z, Pugnaire FI (2009) Abiotic conditions, neighbour interactions, and the distribution of Stipa tenacissima in a semiarid mountain range. J Arid Environ 73:1084–1089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.06.012
Bai Y, She W, Michalet R, Zheng J, Qin S, Zhang Y (2018) Benefactor facilitation and beneficiary feedback effects drive shrub-dominated community succession in a semi-arid dune ecosystem. Appl Veg Sci 21:595–606. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12388
Bar Kutiel P, Katz O, Ziso-Cohen V, Divinsky I, Katra I (2016) Water availability in sand dunes and its implications for the distribution of Artemisia Monosperma. CATENA 137:144–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2015.09.007
Barbeta A, Gimeno TE, Clave L, Frejaville B, Jones SP, Delvigne C, Wingate L, Ogee J (2020) An explanation for the isotopic offset between soil and stem water in a temperate tree species. New Phytol 227:766–779. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16564
Beyer M, Hamutoko JT, Wanke H, Gaj M, Koeniger P (2018) Examination of deep root water uptake using anomalies of soil water stable isotopes, depth-controlled isotopic labeling and mixing models. J Hydrol 566:122–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.08.060
Bhaskar R, Ackerly DD (2006) Ecological relevance of minimum seasonal water potentials. Physiol Plant 127:353–359. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1399-3054.2006.00718.x
Brito P, Wieser G, Oberhuber W, Gruber A, Lorenzo JR, González-Rodríguez ÁM, Jiménez MS (2017) Water availability drives stem growth and stem water deficit of Pinus canariensis in a drought-induced treeline in Tenerife. Plant Ecol 218:277–290. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-016-0686-6
Bucci SJ, Scholz FG, Goldstein G, Meinzer FC, Arce ME (2009) Soil water availability and rooting depth as determinants of hydraulic architecture of Patagonian Woody species. Oecologia 160:631–641. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1331-z
Cavieres LA, Quiroz CL, Molina-Montenegro MA, Muñoz AA, Pauchard A (2005) Nurse effect of the native cushion plant azorella monantha on the invasive non-native Taraxacum officinale in the high-Andes of central Chile. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 7:217–226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2005.09.002
Chen Y, Helliker BR, Tang X, Li F, Zhou Y, Song X (2020) Stem water cryogenic extraction biases estimation in deuterium isotope composition of plant source water. Proc Natl Acad Sci 117:33345–33350. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014422117
Colwell RK, Futuyma DJ (1971) On the measurement of niche breadth and overlap. Ecology 52(4):567–576. https://doi.org/10.2307/1934144
Ding Y, Nie Y, Chen H, Wang K, Querejeta JI (2020) Water uptake depth is coordinated with leaf water potential, water-use efficiency and drought vulnerability in karst vegetation. New Phytol 229:1339–1353. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16971
Domec JC, Johnson DM (2012) Does homeostasis or disturbance of homeostasis in minimum leaf water potential explain the isohydric versus anisohydric behavior of Vitis vinifera L. cultivars? Tree Physiol 32:245–248. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tps013
Ehleringer JR, Dawson TE (1992) Water uptake by plants: perspectives from stable isotope composition. Plant Cell Environ 15:1073–1082. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.1992.tb01657.x
Fa KY, Zhang YQ, Wu B, Qin SG, Liu Z, She WW (2016) Patterns and possible mechanisms of soil CO2 uptake in sandy soil. Sci Total Environ 544:587–594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.163
Feng X, Ackerly DD, Dawson TE, Manzoni S, McLaughlin B, Skelton RP, Vico G, Weitz AP, Thompson SE (2019) Beyond isohydricity: the role of environmental variability in determining plant drought responses. Plant Cell Environ 42:1104–1111. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.13486
Flanagan LB, Ehleringer JR, Marshall JD (1992) Differential uptake of summer precipitation among co-occurring trees and shrubs in a pinyon-juniper woodland. Plant Cell Environ 15:831–836. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.1992.tb02150.x
Fu X, Meinzer FC (2019) Metrics and proxies for stringency of regulation of plant water status (iso/anisohydry): a global data set reveals coordination and trade-offs among water transport traits. Tree Physiol 39:122–134. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpy087
Gago J, Douthe C, Florez-Sarasa I, Escalona JM, Galmes J, Fernie AR, Flexas J, Medrano H (2014) Opportunities for improving leaf water use efficiency under climate change conditions. Plant Sci 226:108–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2014.04.007
Garcia-Forner N, Biel C, Save R, Martinez-Vilalta J (2017) Isohydric species are not necessarily more carbon limited than anisohydric species during drought. Tree Physiol 37:441–455. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpw109
García-Martín EE, Aranguren-Gassis M, Karl DM, Martínez-García S, Robinson C, Serret P, Teira E (2019) Validation of the in vivo iodo-nitro-tetrazolium (INT) salt reduction method as a proxy for plankton respiration. Front Mar Sci 6:220. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00220
Guo JS, Hultine KR, Koch GW, Kropp H, Ogle K (2020) Temporal shifts in iso/anisohydry revealed from daily observations of plant water potential in a dominant desert shrub. New Phytol 225:713–726. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16196
Gupta A, Rico-Medina A, Caño-Delgado I (2020) The physiology of plant responses to drought. Science 368:266–269. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz7614
Hochberg U, Rockwell FE, Holbrook NM, Cochard H (2018) Iso/Anisohydry: a plant-environment interaction rather than a simple hydraulic trait. Trends Plant Sci 23:112–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2017.11.002
Hoekstra NJ, Finn JA, Hofer D, Lüscher A (2014) The effect of drought and interspecific interactions on depth of water uptake in deep- and shallow-rooting grassland species as determined by δ18O natural abundance. Biogeosciences 11:4493–4506. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-4493-2014
Illuminati A, Querejeta JI, Pías B, Escudero A, Matesanz S (2022) Coordination between water uptake depth and the leaf economic spectrum in a Mediterranean shrubland. J Ecol 110:1844–1856. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13909
Jiang P, Wang H, Meinzer FC, Kou L, Dai X, Fu X (2020) Linking reliance on deep soil water to resource economy strategies and abundance among coexisting understorey shrub species in subtropical pine plantations. New Phytol 225:222–233. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16027
Kannenberg SA, Novick KA, Phillips RP (2019) Anisohydric behavior linked to persistent hydraulic damage and delayed drought recovery across seven north American tree species. New Phytol 222:1862–1872. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15699
Klein T (2014) The variability of stomatal sensitivity to leaf water potential across tree species indicates a continuum between isohydric and anisohydric behaviours. Funct Ecol 28:1313–1320. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12289
Li X, Blackman CJ, Peters JMR, Choat B, Rymer PD, Medlyn BE, Tissue DT (2019) More than iso/anisohydry: hydroscapes integrate plant water use and drought tolerance traits in 10 eucalypt species from contrasting climates. Funct Ecol 33:1035–1049. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13320
Li C, Fu B, Wang S, Stringer LC, Wang Y, Li Z, Liu Y, Zhou W (2021) Drivers and impacts of changes in China’s drylands. Nat Reviews Earth Environ 2:858–873. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00226-z
Liu L, Bai Y, Qiao Y, Miao C, She W, Qin S, Zhang Y (2023) Water-use characteristics of two dominant plant species in different community types in the Mu Us Desert. Catena 221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2022.106803
Liu L, Bai Y, She W, Qiao Y, Qin S, Zhang Y (2020) A nurse shrub species helps associated herbaceous plants by preventing shade-induced evaporation in a desert ecosystem. Land Degrad Dev 32:1796–1808. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.3831
Martin, Delzon S, Cochard H (2017) Plant resistance to drought depends on timely stomatal closure. Ecol Lett 20:1437–1447. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12851
Martínez-Vilalta J, Garcia-Forner N (2017) Water potential regulation, stomatal behaviour and hydraulic transport under drought: deconstructing the iso/anisohydric concept. Plant Cell Environ 40:962–976. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.12846
Martinez, Poyatos R, Aguade D, Retana J, Mencuccini M (2014) A new look at water transport regulation in plants. New Phytol 204:105–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12912
Miguez-Macho G, Fan Y (2021) Spatiotemporal origin of soil water taken up by vegetation. Nature 598:624–628. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03958-6
Mu Y, Yuan Y, Jia X, Zha T, Qin S, Ye Z, Liu P, Yang R, Tian Y (2022) Hydrological losses and soil moisture carryover affected the relationship between evapotranspiration and rainfall in a temperate semiarid shrubland. Agric for Meteorol 315:108831. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2022.108831
Nekola JC, White PS (1999) The distance decay of similarity in biogeography and ecology. J Biogeogr 26:867–878. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.1999.00305.x
Padilla FM, Francisco IP (2006) The role of nurse plants in the restoration of degraded environments. Front Ecol Environ 4:196–202. https://doi.org/10.1890/1540-9295(2006)004[0196:TRONPI]2.0.CO;2
Pierret A, Maeght JL, Clement C, Montoroi JP, Hartmann C, Gonkhamdee S (2016) Understanding deep roots and their functions in ecosystems: an advocacy for more unconventional research. Ann Bot 118:621–635. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcw130
Plaut JA, Yepez EA, Hill J, Pangle R, Sperry JS, Pockman WT, McDowell NG (2012) Hydraulic limits preceding mortality in a pinon-juniper woodland under experimental drought. Plant Cell Environ 35:1601–1617. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2012.02512.x
Pokhrel Y, Felfelani F, Satoh Y, Boulange J, Burek P, Gädeke A, Gerten D, Gosling SN, Grillakis M, Gudmundsson L, Hanasaki N, Kim H, Koutroulis A, Liu J, Papadimitriou L, Schewe J, Müller Schmied H, Stacke T, Telteu C-E, Thiery W, Veldkamp T, Zhao F, Wada Y (2021) Global terrestrial water storage and drought severity under climate change. Nat Clim Change 11:226–233. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00972-w
Priyadarshini KVR, Prins HHT, de Bie S, Heitkönig IMA, Woodborne S, Gort G, Kirkman K, Ludwig F, Dawson TE, de Kroon H (2016) Seasonality of hydraulic redistribution by trees to grasses and changes in their water-source use that change tree-grass interactions. Ecohydrology 9:218–228. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1624
Qiao Y, Bai Y, She W, Liu L, Miao C, Zhu G, Qin S, Zhang Y (2022) Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi outcompete fine roots in determining soil multifunctionality and microbial diversity in a desert ecosystem. Appl Soil Ecol 171:104323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.104323
Rodríguez-Robles U, Arredondo JT, Huber-Sannwald E, Yépez EA, Ramos-Leal JA (2020) Coupled plant traits adapted to wetting/drying cycles of substrates co-define niche multidimensionality. Plant Cell Environ 43:2394–2408. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.13837
Rogiers SY, Greer DH, Hatfield JM, Hutton RJ, Clarke SJ, Hutchinson PA, Somers A (2012) Stomatal response of an anisohydric grapevine cultivar to evaporative demand, available soil moisture and abscisic acid. Tree Physiol 32:249–261. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpr131
Ryel RJ, Ivans CY, Peek MS, Leffler AJ (2008) Functional differences in soil water pools: a new Pperspective on plant water use in water-limited ecosystems. In: Lüttge U, Beyschlag W, Murata J (eds) Progress in Botany. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg
Salvi AM, Gosetti SG, Smith DD, Adams MA, Givnish TJ, McCulloh KA (2022) Hydroscapes, hydroscape plasticity and relationships to functional traits and mesophyll photosynthetic sensitivity to leaf water potential in Eucalyptus species. Plant Cell Environ 45:2573–2588. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14380
Schenk HJ (2008) The shallowest possible water extraction Profile: a null model for global Root DistributionsAll rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Vadose Zone J 7:1119–1124. https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2007.0119
Schöb C, Armas C, Pugnaire FI (2013) Direct and indirect interactions co-determine species composition in nurse plant systems. Oikos 122:1371–1379. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2013.00390.x
She W, Bai Y, Zhang Y, Qin S, Feng W, Lai Z, Qiao Y, Liu L, Zhang W, Miao C (2021) Nitrogen-enhanced herbaceous competition threatens woody species persistence in a desert ecosystem. Plant Soil 460:333–345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04810-y
She W, Chen N, Zhang Y, Qin S, Bai Y, Feng W, Lai Z, Qiao Y, Liu L, Zhang W, Miao C (2022) Precipitation and nitrogen deposition alter biocrust–vascular plant coexistence in a desert ecosystem: threshold and mechanisms. J Ecol 110:772–783. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13834
Silvertown J, Araya Y, Gowing D (2015) Hydrological niches in terrestrial plant communities: a review. J Ecol 103:93–108. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12332
Stock BC, Jackson AL, Ward EJ, Parnell AC, Phillips DL, Semmens BX (2018) Analyzing mixing systems using a new generation of bayesian tracer mixing models. PeerJ 6:e5096. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5096
Sun Q, Zamanian K, Huguet A, Fa K, Wang H (2020) Characterization and formation of the pristine rhizoliths around Artemisia roots in dune soils of Tengeri Desert, NW China. CATENA 193:104633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2020.104633
Tang Y, Wu X, Chen Y, Wen J, Xie Y, Lu S (2018) Water use strategies for two dominant tree species in pure and mixed plantations of the semiarid Chinese Loess Plateau. Ecohydrology 11. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1943
Wang J, Fu B, Wang L, Lu N, Li J (2020) Water use characteristics of the common tree species in different plantation types in the Loess Plateau of China. Agric for Meteorol 288–289:108020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.108020
Wang T, Xue X, Zhou L, Guo J (2013) Combating aeolian desertification in Northern China. Land Degrad Dev 26:118–132. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2190
Ward D, Wiegand K, Getzin S (2013) Walter’s two-layer hypothesis revisited: back to the roots! Oecologia 172:617–630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2538-y
West AG, Patrickson SJ, Ehleringer JR (2006) Water extraction times for plant and soil materials used in stable isotope analysis. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 20:1317–1321. https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.2456
Wu YJ, Ren C, Tian Y, Zha TS, Liu P, Bai YJ, Ma JY, Lai ZR, Bourque CPA (2018) Photosynthetic gas-exchange and PSII photochemical acclimation to drought in a native and non-native xerophytic species (Artemisia Ordosica and Salix psammophila). Ecol Ind 94:130–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.06.040
Wu W, Tao Z, Chen G, Meng T, Li Y, Feng H, Si B, Manevski K, Andersen MN, Siddique KHM (2022) Phenology determines water use strategies of three economic tree species in the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China. Agric for Meteorol 312:108716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108716
Xu L, Baldocchi DD (2003) Seasonal trends in photosynthetic parameters and stomatal conductance of blue oak (Quercus douglasii) under prolonged summer drought and high temperature. Tree Physiol 23:865–877. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/23.13.865
Xu CY, Griffin KL, Schuster WS (2007) Leaf phenology and seasonal variation of photosynthesis of invasive Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) and two co-occurring native understory shrubs in a northeastern United States deciduous forest. Oecologia 154:11–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0807-y
Xu M, Zha T, Tian Y, Liu P, Jia X, Bourque CPA, Jin C, Wei X, Zhao H, Guo Z (2022) Elevated physiological plasticity in xerophytic-deciduous shrubs as demonstrated in their variable maximum carboxylation rate. Ecol Ind 144:109475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109475
Yang YJ, Bi MH, Nie ZF, Jiang H, Liu XD, Fang XW, Brodribb TJ (2021) Evolution of stomatal closure to optimize water-use efficiency in response to dehydration in ferns and seed plants. New Phytol 230:2001–2010. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17278
Zhang CC, Li XY, Wu HW, Wang P, Wang Y, Wu XC, Li W, Huang YM (2017) Differences in water-use strategies along an aridity gradient between two coexisting desert shrubs (Reaumuria Soongorica and Nitraria sphaerocarpa): isotopic approaches with physiological evidence. Plant Soil 419:169–187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3332-8
Zhao Y, Wang L, Knighton J, Evaristo J, Wassen M (2021) Contrasting adaptive strategies by Caragana korshinskii and Salix psammophila in a semiarid revegetated ecosystem. Agric For Meteorol 300:108323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108323
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Yuxuan Bai, Yude Lian, Guannan Zhu, Shijun Liu, and the staff of the research station for providing assistance with research work.
Funding
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071844, U22A20504), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (PTYX202222, PTYX202223).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Liang Liu designed the experiment. Liang Liu, Yangui Qiao, and Chun Miao conducted the fieldwork and analyzed the data. Liang Liu and Yuqing Zhang wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to the results interpretation and the revision of all stages of the study.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Susan Schwinning.
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(DOCX 912 KB)
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, L., Qiao, Y., She, W. et al. Interspecific competition alters water use patterns of coexisting plants in a desert ecosystem. Plant Soil 495, 583–599 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06346-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06346-3