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Effects of simulated nitrogen deposition on the ecophysiological responses of Populus beijingensis and P. cathayana under intra- and interspecific competition

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Abstract

Aims 

High N deposition has been recognized as a major factor influencing plant-plant interactions. We aim to discover whether N deposition could affect competitive relationships between poplars to predict threats posed by the introduction of exotic hybrids to native relative species.

Methods

Intra- and interspecific competition was investigated for an introduced hybrid poplar (Populus beijingensis) and the native paternal species P. cathayana under two N deposition regimes.

Results

Under control conditions, P. cathayana grown under either intra- or interspecific competition showed consistently greater above-ground biomass, root-to-shoot ratio (R/S), photosynthetic capacity, higher activities of N-assimilation enzymes in leaves, and preference for N-NO3− than corresponding P. beijingensis. Interspecific competition increased leaf area, specific leaf area (SLA), R/S, and photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE) in P. cathayana, but decreased PNUE in P. beijingensis compared to the values under monoculture. Thus, P. cathayana can gain a competitive advantage over P. beijingensis at low N availability. In contrast, under N deposition, P. beijingensis under mixture showed more positive responses in growth, higher plasticity in biomass allocation and root architecture, and the shift for N-NO3− preference when compared with P. cathayana, which resulted in relatively higher values in leaf area, SLA, and biomass accumulation in P. beijingensis. Nitrogen deposition increased the intrinsic water-use efficiency of conspecific P. beijingensis and heterospecific P. cahtayana.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that N deposition could reverse competitive relationships between the poplars, and exotic P. beijingensis has the potential to outcompete native P. cathayana under growing N deposition.

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Acknowledgements

The research was supported by the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2021YFYZ0032-06).

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Author notes

  1. Lianghua Chen and Jiaxuan Mi contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, 611130, Chengdu, China

    Lianghua Chen, Jiaxuan Mi, Linting Hao, Fang He, Hanbo Yang, Xueqin Wan, Yang Liu & TianTian Lin

  2. National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River, 611130, Chengdu, China

    Lianghua Chen, Hanbo Yang & Yang Liu

  3. Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, 611130, Chengdu, China

    Lianghua Chen, Hanbo Yang & Yang Liu

  4. College of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, 611130, Chengdu, China

    Fan Zhang

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  1. Lianghua Chen
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Contributions

Lianghua Chen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – original draft. Jiaxuan Mi: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing. Linting Hao: Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing. Fang He: Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing. Hanbo Yang: Resources, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. Xueqin Wan: Resources, Writing – review & editing. Fan Zhang: Resources, Writing – review & editing. Yang Liu: Resources, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. TianTian Lin: Supervision, Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.

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Correspondence to TianTian Lin.

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Chen, L., Mi, J., Hao, L. et al. Effects of simulated nitrogen deposition on the ecophysiological responses of Populus beijingensis and P. cathayana under intra- and interspecific competition. Plant Soil 481, 127–146 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05623-x

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