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Clonal integration in Vallisneria natans alters growth and the rhizosphere microbial community of neighboring plants under heterogeneous conditions

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Abstract

Background

Resource translocation among interconnected ramets can improve the growth performance of the recipient ramets and influence soil properties and microbial communities in the rooting zone. However, scanty attention has been paid to the effect of this clonal integration on soil biotic and abiotic characteristics of neighboring species around the recipient ramets.

Methods

We conducted a soil heterogeneous experiment in which the mother ramet of the ramet pair for Vallisneria natans was planted in a high-nutrient patch, and the daughter ramet was planted in a low-nutrient patch with conspecific neighbors V. natans or heterospecific neighbors Myriophyllum spicatum. The stolons between ramet pairs were severed or left intact.

Results

Our results showed that effects of clonal integration on growth of the daughter ramet depend on the identity of neighboring species. Overall growth of neighbors V. natans was not affected by clonal integration, while growth of neighbors M. spicatum was greatly reduced. Soil properties and microbial community composition (especially bacteria) in the rhizosphere of neighboring plants were significantly influenced by clonal integration, and these effects were more obvious in the rhizosphere of neighbor V. natans than those in the rhizosphere of neighbors M. spicatum.

Conclusion

Our study suggests that clonal integration may play a vital role in facilitating nutrient cycling, modifying habitat heterogeneity and affecting interspecific interactions and even the community structure.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding support from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2042020kf1025).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The National Field Station of Freshwater Ecosystem of Liangzi Lake, College of Life Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaowen Ma, Weicheng Yu, Min Tao, Chang Zhang, Zhiqiang Zhang, Dan Yu & Chunhua Liu

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  1. Xiaowen Ma
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  2. Weicheng Yu
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  3. Min Tao
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  4. Chang Zhang
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Contributions

Xiaowen Ma, Chunhua Liu and Dan Yu conceived the study. Xiaowen Ma conducted the experiments. Xiaowen Ma, Weicheng Yu, Min Tao, Chang Zhang, and Zhiqiang Zhang collected the data. Xiaowen Ma and Weicheng Yu analyzed the data; Xiaowen Ma and Chunhua Liu led the manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the contents of this paper.

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Correspondence to Chunhua Liu.

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Ma, X., Yu, W., Tao, M. et al. Clonal integration in Vallisneria natans alters growth and the rhizosphere microbial community of neighboring plants under heterogeneous conditions. Plant Soil 482, 297–311 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05690-0

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