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Effects of adult neighbour and gap size on seedling emergence and early growth of Bromus inermis Leyss

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Ecological Research

Abstract

A field study was conducted to determine the effects of neighbour root exclusion and gap size on the seedling emergence and early growth of Bromus inermis. Seeds of B. inermis were added to artificially created gaps in an improved shortgrass steppe in northern China. Neighbour root exclusion was accomplished using PVC tubes sunk in the soil of gaps. Emergence and survival of seedlings were greater in all gaps than in the control (0-cm diameter), but better growth performance (height of seedling, leaves, tillers and dry weight per seedling) was observed only in large gaps (20- and 40-cm diameter) with neighbour root present and gaps without neighbour root presence. Seedling growth performance was improved by reducing root and shoot competition. Neighbour root exclusion provided a favourable environment for seedling establishment. Differences between gaps in light levels and topsoil temperature can explain the patterns of germination. These results confirm that B. inermis is a gap-enhanced species. Our study strongly suggests that asymmetric competition by adult neighbour plants negatively influences the establishment of B. inermis.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Proprietary Basic Research Program (973 program project, 2007CB106800) and the State “ShiWu” Key Project for Basic Sciences of “Key techniques research and demonstration on grassland vegetation restoration and reconstruction” (no. 2004BA528B01). We thank an anonymous handling editor and two anonymous referees for their valuable suggestions on an early draft of this manuscript, and thank Zhao Xia and Li YuGang for their work during the experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Grassland Science, China Agricultural University, No. 2 Yuanmingyuanxilu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100094, China

    Guixia Liu, Peisheng Mao, Yunwen Wang & Jianguo Han

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  1. Guixia Liu
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  2. Peisheng Mao
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  3. Yunwen Wang
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  4. Jianguo Han
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Correspondence to Jianguo Han.

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Liu, G., Mao, P., Wang, Y. et al. Effects of adult neighbour and gap size on seedling emergence and early growth of Bromus inermis Leyss. Ecol Res 23, 197–205 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-007-0364-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-007-0364-1

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