Abstract
The reproductive characteristics of four plant species of the genus Nitraria L.in Ulan Buh Desert,Nitraria tangutorum Bobr.,N.sibirica Pall.,N.roborowskii Kom.,N.sphaerocarpa Maxim.,were studied.The reproductive allocation characteristics of reproductive tillers were studied based on measurements of the reproductive modules during blooming.The results showed significant quantitative differences exist in some reproductive modules of the four species,such as ramet height,reproductive tiller length,reproductive tiller diameter,number of flowers per tiller,dry weight of cymes,and dry weight of branches and leaves.Of the four plant species,N.sphaerocarpa was the smallest based on the above measured characters.N.sibirica allocated 44.51% of its mass to reproduction while the other three species allocated less than 20%.Statistical analyses were performed on the reproductive characteristics of four plant species.A significant linear correlation was found between reproductive tiller length and ramet height(P0.05).The correlation coefficients were 0.8207,0.7408,0.8401,and 0.9144 for N.tangutorum,N.sibirica,N.roborowskii,and N.sphaerocarpa,respectively.The statistical significant test level of the curve fitness was 0.0067,0.0224,0.0046 and 0.0006 for N.tangutorum,N.sibirica,N.roborowskii,and N.sphaerocarpa,respectively.Also,the cymous dry weight was significantly correlated to ramet height.Specifically the absolute biomass allocated to the reproductive organs from the total biomass of the reproductive tillers increased as ramet height increased.The correlation coefficients of the two indices for N.tangutorum,N.sibirica,N.roborowskii,N.sphaerocarpa were 0.9283,0.6631,0.8350,and 0.8324,respectively.The fitted curves of the two indices for N.tangutorum and N.roborowskii followed a linear relationship,whereas that of N.sibirica followed a power law,and that of N.sphaerocarpa was quadratic.Third,the reproductive allocation of the four plant species decreased as the biomass of the reproductive tillers increased which represented the size of the plant.The fitted curves of the two indices for N.sibirica and N.roborowskii were linear,and those for N.tangutorum and N.sphaerocarpa were inverse.Plant size had a significantly negative correlation with the reproductive allocation.The characteristics of the reproductive allocation of four plant species of genus Nitraria reflect their strategies for the resource utilization and the trade-off with the clonal propagation and ecological adaptation to the environment.
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