Abstract
Temporal heterogeneity of water supply affects grassland community productivity and it can interact with nutrient level and intraspecific competition. To understand community responses, the responses of individual species to water heterogeneity must be evaluated while considering the interactions of this heterogeneity with nutrient levels and population density. We compared responses of four herbaceous species grown in monocultures to various combinations of water heterogeneity, nutrient level, and population density: two grasses (Cynodon dactylon and Lolium perenne), a forb (Artemisia princeps), and a legume (Trifolium repens). Treatment effects on shoot and root biomass were analyzed. In all four species, shoot biomass was larger under homogeneous than under heterogeneous water supply. Shoot responses of L. perenne tended to be greater at high nutrient levels. Although root biomass was also larger under homogeneous water supply, effects of water heterogeneity on root biomass were not significant in the grasses. Trifolium repens showed marked root responses, particularly at high population density. Although greater shoot and root growth under homogeneous water supply appears to be a general trend among herbaceous species, our results suggested differences among species could be found in the degree of response to water heterogeneity and its interactions with nutrient level and intraspecific competition.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Mr. E. Sugiyama and Ms. T. Yasuki of Tokyo Metropolitan University (TMU) and members of the Plant Ecology Laboratory of TMU for their help during the experiment. This work was supported partly by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant numbers 00291237 and 18570027 to J.I.S. and 09J07211 to Y.H.). The editor, Dr. A. Kume, and two anonymous reviewers made very constructive comments on our earlier manuscript.
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Hagiwara, Y., Kachi, N. & Suzuki, JI. Combined effects between temporal heterogeneity of water supply, nutrient level, and population density on biomass of four broadly distributed herbaceous species. J Plant Res 125, 77–83 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-011-0406-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-011-0406-1