Abstract
Clonal plants have been shown to successfully survive in stressful environments, including salinity stress, drought and depleted nutrients through clonal integration between original and subsequent ramets. However, relatively little is known about whether clonal integration can enhance the performance of clonal plants under alkalinity stress. We investigated the effect of clonal integration on the performance of a typical rhizomatous clonal plant, Leymus chinensis, using a factorial experimental design with four levels of alkalinity and two levels of rhizome connection treatments, connected (allowing integration) and severed (preventing integration). Clonal integration was estimated by comparing physiological and biomass features between the rhizome-connected and rhizome-severed treatments. We found that rhizome-connected treatment increased the biomass, height and leaf water potential of subsequent ramets at highly alkalinity treatments but did not affect them at low alkalinity treatments. However, rhizome-connected treatment decreased the root biomass of subsequent ramets and did not influence the photosynthetic rates of subsequent ramets. The biomass of original ramets was reduced by rhizome-connected treatment at the highest alkalinity level. These results suggest that clonal integration can increase the performance of clonal plants under alkalinity stress. Rhizome-connected plants showed dramatically increased survival of buds with negative effects on root weight, indicating that clonal integration influenced the resource allocation pattern of clonal plants. A cost-benefit analysis based on biomass measures showed that original and subsequent ramets significantly benefited from clonal integration in highly alkalinity stress, indicating that clonal integration is an important adaptive strategy by which clonal plants could survive in local alkalinity soil.
Highlights
IntroductionClonal Integration under Alkalinity Stress original ramets growing in non-stressful habitats to subsequent ramets in stressful conditions through a connecting rhizome or stolons [2,3]
Clonal plants are widely distributed in terrestrial ecosystems [1] and can survive in stressful habitats, because they can transport resources such as carbohydrates, water and nutrients fromPLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0119942 March 19, 2015Clonal Integration under Alkalinity Stress original ramets growing in non-stressful habitats to subsequent ramets in stressful conditions through a connecting rhizome or stolons [2,3]
We investigated the effect of clonal integration on the performance of a typical rhizomatous clonal plant, Leymus chinensis, using a factorial experimental design with four levels of alkalinity and two levels of rhizome connection treatments, connected and severed
Summary
Clonal Integration under Alkalinity Stress original ramets growing in non-stressful habitats to subsequent ramets in stressful conditions through a connecting rhizome or stolons [2,3]. Numerous studies showed that clonal integration could support subsequent ramets to survive in stressful environments, e.g. highly salinity [6,7], drought [8] and nutrientdepleted habitats [2, 9]. Original ramets located in lower salinity can transporte water and carbon products to subsequent ramets in higher salinity soil to enhance the performance of the connected subsequent ramets [10]. Little is known about how clonal integration influences the performance of clonal plants under soil alkalinity stress. Alkalinity influences plant morphology, growth and reproduction, and high pH can directly affect root growth [13]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
