Woody plant growth increases with precipitation intensity in a cold semiarid system

Ecology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin C. Holdrege ◽  
Karen H. Beard ◽  
Andrew Kulmatiski
Oikos ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn R. Moncrieff ◽  
Simon Chamaillé-Jammes ◽  
William J. Bond

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth R. Loveys ◽  
John J. G. Egerton ◽  
Dan Bruhn ◽  
Marilyn C. Ball

The relative effects of disturbance (here defined as bare soil), competition for edaphic resources, thermal interference and elevated [CO2] on growth of tree seedlings in grasslands were studied under field conditions. Snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieb. ex Spreng.) seedlings were grown in open-top chambers flushed with either ambient or elevated [CO2] from March 2004 to January 2005 (autumn to summer). These seedlings were planted into three treatments (i.e. bare soil, soil covered with straw or soil supporting a sward of live pasture grass) to separate effects of grass on seedling growth into those due to competition with grass for soil resources or to alteration of the thermal environment caused by a grassy surface (Ball et al. 2002). After the first major autumn frost, seedlings growing in competition with grass lost 59% of their canopy area, whereas those growing in bare soil or straw suffered negligible damage. These results reveal the complexity of competitive inhibition of plant growth in which ineffective competition for resources such as soil water enhances the vulnerability of the plant to abiotic stress, in this case frost. Tree seedlings growing in bare soil and straw commenced growth earlier in spring than those growing in competition with grass, where soil moisture was consistently lowest. Under ambient [CO2], growth was greater in bare soil than in straw, consistent with thermal interference, but these differences disappeared under elevated [CO2]. Elevated [CO2] significantly increased biomass accumulation for seedlings growing in bare soil and straw treatments, but not in grass. Thus, elevated [CO2] alleviated apparent thermal interference of seedling growth in spring but did not overcome adverse effects on seedling growth of either competitive reduction in soil resources or competitive enhancement of environmental stress. Nevertheless, elevated [CO2] could promote invasion of grasslands due to enhancement of woody plant growth in bare soil created by disturbances.


HortScience ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim D. Bowman

Long-term identification of individual plants in the field is an important part of many types of research. In a previous report, we described methods for using implanted radiofrequency identification device (RFID) microchips to tag citrus trees for field research. This report provides an update on the RFID technology for use in plants, the effect of implanted chips on long-term plant growth, and survival of the microchips over time. The microchips were found to have no significant effect on plant health and growth, and most microchips continued to work well through the first 6 years after implantation. Implanted RFID microchips appear useful for long-term tagging of citrus and other woody plant species.


HortScience ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 1124e-1124
Author(s):  
Guochen Yang ◽  
P. E. Read

Vanhoutte's spiraea has been propagated in vitro using explants from softwood growth of dormant stems forced in a solution containing 200 mg/l 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate (8-HQC) and 2% sucrose (Yang and Read, 1989). Objectives to further utilize this system were to determine the feasibility of applying plant growth regulators (PGR) via the forcing solution to softwood growth from forced dormant stems and to study the resulting influence on in vitro culture. BA and GA3 were placed in the forcing solution at various concentrations, including a zero PGR control. Explants were cultured on Linsmaier and Skoog (LS) medium containing zero PGR or different amounts of BA or thidiazuron (TDZ) or combinations of BA and IAA. Control explants placed on LS medium supplemented with 5uM BA with or without 1 or 5uM IAA, or with 0.5 or 0.75 uM TDZ alone produced the best shoot proliferation. BA in the forcing solution stimulated micropropagation, while GA3 caused less proliferation than explants from control solutions. Forcing solutions containing PGR are useful for manipulating responses of plant tissues cultured in vitro and for studying PGR influence on woody plant physiology.


1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 275-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Eiten

The Santa Tenesinha region in northeaster Mato Grosso has a varied vegetation which is principally hammock pantanal. The flat clayey alluvial ground between the hummocks is coveted with a continuous non-cerrado ground cover dominated by grasses but which harbors sedges and a lange herb flora. No woody plants grow in it. The tops of the 10-20m wide, slightly elliptical hummocks, 1.5-2 m high, 10-40 per hectare, are covered with cerrado plants: herbs, semlshrubs, thin- and thick-stemmed shrubs and low trees. For 4-5 months during the latter part of the rainy season, the regional water table rises to the surface and the ground between the hummocks becomes saturated or floods up to 1.5-2 m deep. The tops of the hummocks almost always remain above high water level. In the dry season the surface soil dries out completely. This alternation of saturation or shallow flooding and dryness, prevents woody plant, growth between the hummocks, and except for a few tolerant species, also prevents woody plant. growth on the lower part of the hummochs. The gallery forests in the pantanal are seasonally flooded more deeply but their soil does not dry out so thonoughly in the dry season so woody plant growth is not prevented.


1988 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. N. Chidumayo

ABSTRACTIn 1933/34 eight coppice plots were established in Brachystegia-Julbemardia (miombo) woodland at Ndola in the Copperbelt area of Zambia by the Forestry Department. These plots have been maintained under fire protection, annual early or late dry season burning since 1934/35. Before establishment stems over 20.3 cm girth at breast height were enumerated. Three of the eight plots (one fire protected and two annually early burnt) were enumerated in 1982, 48–49 years after establishment. In addition, a coppice plot at Chitwi, 16 km southwest of the Ndola plots, cleared in 1972 and left to regenerate naturally was enumerated in May 1982 and August 1986 to assess woody plant growth.The density of stems over 20.0 cm girth in the 13-year-old coppice at Chitwi was 2.5 times that in an adjacent shelterbelt woodland. The stem density in the fire protected plot at Ndola in 1982 was 86% of the pre-felling density while in one of the early burnt plots it was 95% of the pre-felling density. The protected plot had the lowest species diversity after 49 years, largely because of the loss of 11 understorey species that were present before felling.There were no significant differences in stem mean girth at breast height (gbh) of canopy species in the Ndola plots under fire protection and early burning regimes. Mean annual gbh increments of abundant species were estimated at 1.17–2.21 cm yr−1 and 0.59–1.42 cm yr−1 during 0–9 and 0–49 year age-periods, respectively. Estimated mean annual basal area increments for stems over 30 cm gbh were 0.35 m2 ha−1 for the 13-year-old coppice and 0.24–0.27 m2 ha−1 for the 49-year-old coppice. These results indicate a decrease in both gbh and basal area increment with increasing age of miombo coppice


1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-51
Author(s):  
Daniel K. Struve ◽  
Mary Ann Rose

Abstract Three experiments were conducted to determine the effect of season-long continuous fertigation (constant application of water soluble fertilizer during irrigation events) or various periods of fertigation on growth of seedlings of 17 woody plant species. For 13 of the 17 species, growth was vigorous; typically seedlings doubled in size during the 13-week experiment [from 1 m (3 ft) initial height to 1.5 or 2 m (4.5 to 6 ft) final height]. In the second and third experiments, seedlings grown under three to four weeks of fertigation (580 and 380 mg N per day, 1995 and 1996, respectively, from water soluble fertilizer) and then switched to weekly fertigation (580 and 380 mg N per week, 1995 and 1996, respectively) had similar height as seedlings receiving fertigation for 13 weeks. The three- to four-week fertigation treatment reduced nutrient application rates by 63 to 55% without reducing plant growth.


HortScience ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 1124d-1124
Author(s):  
Gouchen Yang ◽  
Paul E. Read

BA, IBA and GA3 were incorporated into softwood tissues to be cultured in vitro or rooted as cuttings by adding the plant growth regulators (PGR) at various concentrations to a forcing solution containing 200 mg/l 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate and 2% sucrose. BA and GA3 helped break bud dormancy in autumn-collected stems and increased percent bud-break. IBA inhibited bud break and shoot elongation. Rooting of forced softwood cuttings was enhanced by IBA in the forcing solution, while GA3 inhibited the rooting of plant species tested. When dormant stems were forced with periodic additions of BA (10 mg/l) in the forcing solution, in vitro shoot proliferation was enhanced. However, inclusion of GA3 in the forcing solution reduced shoot proliferation. A pre-forcing NaOCl soak and a pre-forcing treatment with wetting agents accelerated bud break, size and number of shoots available for both micro- and macro-propagation of the woody plant species tested. The forcing solution protocol described is an effective PGR delivery system and it can be used by the propagator to extend the season for obtaining softwood growth suitable for use as in vitro explants or softwood cuttings.


1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-68
Author(s):  
Patrick J. McGuigan ◽  
Frank A. Blazich ◽  
Thomas G. Ranney

Abstract Single-node explants were excised from shoots of actively growing, 2-year-old seedlings of Stewartia pseudocamellia Maxim. (Japanese stewartia) on three dates associated with specific stock plant growth stages. Following surface sterilization, explants were placed on agar-solidified Woody Plant Medium (WPM) containing either no growth regulators or N-(3-methyl-2-butenyl)-1H-purin-6-amine (2iP) at 5.0 or 10.0 ppm (24.6 or 48.2 μM) or 0.025 or 0.05 ppm (0.11 or 0.23 μM) N-phenyl-N-1,2,3-thiadiazol-5-ylurea (TDZ). The most frequent budbreak was noted for explants placed on media containing 2iP at either concentration. Explants cultured at the softwood stage had less contamination and greater budbreak than explants taken from more mature stem tissue. In another study, the three distal, axillary nodes of each shoot were excised at 4-day intervals for 28 days beginning 52 days after stock plants were potted following cold storage at 7C (44F). Explants were surface sterilized and placed on WPM supplemented with 10 ppm (49.2 μM) 2iP either alone or in combination with 3 ppm (8.6 μM) gibberellic acid (GA3). Neither GA3 nor node position influenced budbreak frequency or shoot elongation. Days after potting (stock plant growth stage) influenced frequency of budbreak and shoot elongation with the optimal period for explant collection being 56 to 72 days after stock plants were potted. Elongated shoots (one microcutting per explant) were produced on both media. Microcuttings ≥10 mm (0.4 in) were rooted using ex vitro procedures and acclimatized to greenhouse conditions.


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