The effects of salt stress and arbuscular mycorrhiza on plant neighbour effects and self-thinning

Abstract

Abiotic and biotic factors can alter the nature and strength of plant–plant interactions and therefore self-thinning (density-dependent mortality), but few studies have looked at how such factors interact. We investigated how salt stress and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) influence plant neighbour effects and self-thinning in experimental populations of Medicago sativa. We obtained two mycorrhizal levels by applying the fungicide benomyl (low AMF) or not (high AMF) at three salinity levels (0.05%, 0.2% and 0.5%). In experiment 1, we investigated how salinity and AMF interact to influence plant interaction intensity using a neighbour removal treatment. In experiment 2, we investigated how self-thinning dynamics vary under salinity conditions and different AMF levels at two initial plant densities (6000 and 17,500seedsm−2). Shoot biomass and plant density were measured 30, 60 and 90 days after sowing. Standardized major axis regression was used to estimate self-thinning parameters. In experiment 1, AMF increased competitive plant neighbour effects when there was no salinity stress, but this enhancement was not significant with increasing salinity. In experiment 2, there were effects of salinity and AMF on the self-thinning trajectory. The slope of the log (mean shoot biomass per unit area) vs. log density relationship was significantly steeper for the high AMF treatment than for the low AMF treatment without salinity, but the effect of AMF level on the self-thinning exponent was not significant under the two higher salinity levels. The effect of AMF treatments on the intercept of the self-thinning line was not significant at 0.2% salinity but was significant at 0.5% salinity, higher elevation for high AMF treatment. In self-thinning populations, AMF decreased the survival rate without salinity, but increased the survival rate at the highest salinity level. Our results support the hypothesis that salinity and AMF interact to influence plant neighbour effects and self-thinning. Under no-salinity conditions, AMF increased competition, steepened the self-thinning line and decreased survival rate, but these effects of AMF were not significant in the presence of salinity.