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Nutrient and water availability alter belowground patterns of biomass allocation, carbon partitioning, and ectomycorrhizal abundance in Betula nigra

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Abstract

In managed settings, seedlings are often fertilized with the objective of enhancing establishment, growth, and survival. However, responses of seedlings to fertilization can increase their susceptibility to abiotic stresses such as drought. Seedlings acclimate to variation in soil resources by reallocating carbon among different physiological processes and compartments, such as above versus belowground growth, secondary metabolism, and support of ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF). We examined the effects of nutrient and water availability on carbon allocation to above and belowground growth of river birch (Betula nigra), as well as partitioning among root sugars, starch, phenolics, lignin, and EMF abundance. As nutrient availability increased, total plant biomass and total leaf area increased, while percent root biomass decreased. Root sugars, total root phenolics and EMF abundance responded quadratically to nutrient availability, being lowest at intermediate fertility levels. Decreased water availability reduced total leaf area and root phenolics relative to well-watered controls. No interactions between nutrient and water availability treatments were detected, which may have been due to the moderate degree of drought stress imposed in the low water treatment. Our results indicate that nutrient and water availability significantly alter patterns of carbon allocation and partitioning in roots of Betula nigra seedlings. The potential effects of these responses on stress tolerance are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Victoria Caceres and two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments on earlier drafts of this work, and David Snodgrass, Duan Wang, Justin Whitehill and Jim Vent for their assistance with many technical aspects of this work. This research was supported by USDA Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Grant No. 03-DG-11244225-428 to D.A.H. and P.B., a Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund John Z. Duling Grant to P.B. and D.A.H., an Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center SEEDS Graduate Student Grant to N.M.K., and by State and Federal funds appropriated to the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University.

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  1. Nathan M. Kleczewski

    Present address: Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University Southwest Agricultural Research Center, 4369 North Purdue Road, Vincennes, IN, 47591, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Nathan M. Kleczewski & Pierluigi Bonello

  2. Department of Entomology, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, 1680 Madison Ave, Wooster, OH, 44691, USA

    Daniel A. Herms

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  1. Nathan M. Kleczewski
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Correspondence to Nathan M. Kleczewski.

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Communicated by T. Koike.

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Kleczewski, N.M., Herms, D.A. & Bonello, P. Nutrient and water availability alter belowground patterns of biomass allocation, carbon partitioning, and ectomycorrhizal abundance in Betula nigra . Trees 26, 525–533 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-011-0613-3

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