Robinson, D, Hodge, A orcid.org/0000-0002-5181-697X, Griffiths, B S et al. (1 more author) (1999) Plant root proliferation in nitrogen-rich patches confers competitive advantage. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. pp. 431-435. ISSN 1471-2954
Abstract
Plants respond to environmental heterogeneity, particularly below ground, where spectacular root proliferations in nutrient-rich patches may occur. Such 'foraging' responses apparently maximize nutrient uptake and are now prominent in plant ecological theory. Proliferations in nitrogen-rich patches are difficult to explain adaptively, however. The high mobility of soil nitrate should limit the contribution of proliferation to N capture. Many experiments on isolated plants show only a weak relation between proliferation and N uptake. We show that N capture is associated strongly with proliferation during interspecific competition for finite, locally available, mixed N sources, precisely the conditions under which N becomes available to plants on generally infertile soils. This explains why N-induced root proliferation is an important resource-capture mechanism in N-limited plant communities and suggests that increasing proliferation by crop breeding or genetic manipulation will have a limited impact on N capture by well-fertilized monocultures.
Metadata
Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Copyright © 1999 The Royal Society |
Keywords: | morphological plasticity, nutrient patch, nutrient uptake, plant competition, root proliferation, PHOSPHATE-UPTAKE, NITRATE, SOIL, GROWTH, RATES, HETEROGENEITY, ACQUISITION, PLASTICITY, GRASSLAND, SYSTEM |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Biology (York) |
Depositing User: | Repository Officer |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jun 2006 |
Last Modified: | 06 Dec 2023 10:47 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0656 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0656 |
Related URLs: |