Interspecific Competition For Water Research Articles

Introduction of broadleaf tree species can promote the resource use efficiency and gross primary productivity of pure forests.

Long-term pure forest (PF) management and successive planting has result resulted in "low-efficiency artificial forests" in large areas. However, controversy persists over the promoting effect of introduction of broadleaf tree species on production efficiency of PF. This study hypothesised that introduced broadleaf tree species can significantly promote both water-nutrient use efficiency and gross primary productivity (GPP)of PF. Tree ring chronologies, water source, water use efficiency and GPP were analysed in coniferous Cunninghamia lanceolata and broadleaved Phoebe zhennan growing over the past three decades. The introduction of P. zhennan into C. lanceolata plantations resulted in inter-specific competition for water, probably because of the similarity of the main water source of these two tree species. However, C. lanceolata absorbed more water with a higher nutrient level from the 40-60-cm soil layer in mixed forests (MF). Although the co-existing tree species limited the basal area increment and growth rates of C. lanceolata in MF plots, the acquisition of dissolved nutrients from the fertile topsoil layer were enhanced; this increased the water use efficiency and GPP of MF plots. To achieve better ecological benefits and GPP, MFs should be constructed in southern China.

Can intercropping with the world's three major beverage plants help improve the water use of rubber trees?

Summary The dramatic expansion of rubber plantations in mainland South‐East Asia and south‐west China has caused many eco‐environmental problems, especially negative hydrological consequences. These problems have gradually worsened and pose formidable threats to rubber agriculture, especially in the light of increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Although rubber‐based agroforestry systems are regarded as the best solution for improving the sustainability of rubber agriculture and environmental conservation, plant water use and related interactions have rarely been examined in such systems. We primarily used stable isotope (δD, δ18O and δ13C) methods to test whether intercropping could improve the water use and extreme weather tolerance (extreme cold and drought in our study) of rubber trees in three types of promising agroforestry systems (i.e. rubber with tea, coffee and cocoa) in Xishuangbanna, China. We found that the rubber tree is a drought‐avoidance plant with strong plasticity with respect to water uptake. This characteristic is reflected by its ability to cope with serious seasonal drought, allowing it to avoid interspecific competition for water. The rubber trees showed wasteful water behaviour unless they were intercropped with tea or coffee. However, these intercropped species exhibited drought‐tolerance strategies and maintained lower water use efficiencies to strengthen their competitive capacity for surface soil water. The stable δ13C values of the intercrop leaves indicated that all the agroforestry systems have stable internal microclimatic environments or higher resistance. Synthesis and applications. This study suggests that interspecific competition for water can enhance the water use efficiency of drought‐avoidance plants (i.e. rubber trees) and lead to complementarity between the root distributions of plants in rubber agroforestry systems (i.e. rubber with tea, coffee and cocoa). All agroforestry systems have higher resistance, but tea was the most suitable intercrop in terms of water use because the interspecific competition for water was moderate and the agroforestry system retained much more soil water and improved the water use efficiency of the rubber tree. Considering the root characteristics of the tea trees, we suggest that the crops selected for intercropping with rubber trees should have a relatively fixed water use pattern, short lateral roots and a moderate amount of fine roots that overlap with the roots of the rubber trees in the shallow soil layer.

Influence of tree cover on herbaceous layer development and carbon and water fluxes in a Portuguese cork-oak woodland

Facilitation and competition between different vegetation layers may have a large impact on small-scale vegetation development. We propose that this should not only influence overall herbaceous layer yield but also species distribution and understory longevity, and hence the ecosystems carbon uptake capacity especially during spring. We analyzed the effects of trees on microclimate and soil properties (water and nitrate content) as well as the development of an herbaceous community layer regarding species composition, aboveground biomass and net water and carbon fluxes in a cork-oak woodland in Portugal, between April and November 2011.The presence of trees caused a significant reduction in photosynthetic active radiation of 35molm−2d−1 and in soil temperature of 5°C from April to October. At the same time differences in species composition between experimental plots located in open areas and directly below trees could be observed: species composition and abundance of functional groups became increasingly different between locations from mid April onwards. During late spring drought adapted native forbs had significantly higher cover and biomass in the open area while cover and biomass of grasses and nitrogen fixing forbs was highest under the trees. Further, evapotranspiration and net carbon exchange decreased significantly stronger under the tree crowns compared to the open during late spring and the die back of herbaceous plants occurred earlier and faster under trees. This was most likely caused by interspecific competition for water between trees and herbaceous plants, despite the more favorable microclimate conditions under the trees during the onset of summer drought.

ECOHYDROLOGY IN A COLORADO RIVER RIPARIAN FOREST: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DECLINE OF POPULUS FREMONTII

Populus fremontii (Fremont cottonwood) was once a dominant species in desert riparian forests but has been increasingly replaced by the exotic invasive Tamarix ramosissima (saltcedar). Interspecific competition, reduced flooding frequency, and increased salinity have been implicated in the widespread decline of P. fremontii. To elucidate some of the multiple and interacting mechanisms of this decline, we examined ecological processes in a control stand of P. fremontii along the Colorado River in Utah, USA, as well as a disturbed stand characterized by high groundwater salinity and invasion of T. ramosissima. Sap flux data showed that P. fremontii at the saline site experienced large reductions in afternoon canopy stomatal conductance relative to the control. Thus, average daily stand transpiration was 4.8 ± 0.1 mm/d at the saline site in comparison to 9.3 ± 0.2 mm/d at the control site over a two‐month period. Light‐saturated photosynthesis and apparent quantum yield were also reduced in saline P. fremontii. Stable isotope analysis indicated that trees at the saline site utilized evaporatively enriched groundwater that was likely derived from a nearby pond of irrigation runoff; this was also the probable source of high salinity. Interspecific competition for water at the saline site is unlikely, as T. ramosissima is still a minor species that is present only in the understory. However, reduced tissue N content in P. fremontii at the saline site suggested that physiological stress during salinity and halophyte invasion may be exacerbated by altered N relations.

Competition for water in a pecan (Carya illinoensis K. Koch) – cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) alley cropping system in the southern United States

Understanding the belowground interactions between trees and crops is critical to successful management of agroforestry systems. In a study of competition for water in an alley cropping system consisting of pecan (Carya illinoensis) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) in a sandy loam soil (Rhodic Paleudult) in Jay, Florida, root systems of the two species were separated by trenching to 120 cm depth. A polyethylene barrier was installed in half of the plots. Spatial and temporal variations in soil water content, root distribution and water uptake by both species, and leaf area development and height of cotton were measured. Interspecific competition for water was greater in the non-barrier treatment near tree rows than at the alley center. Competition became evident 3 to 4 weeks after emergence of cotton and increased during the following 7 to 8 weeks. Compared with the non-barrier treatment, the barrier treatment had higher soil water content and better growth of cotton (height, leaf area, and fine root biomass). Cotton lint yield in the barrier treatment (677 kg ha–1) was similar to that in a sole-crop stand, but higher than in the non-barrier (502 kg ha–1) treatment. Lint production efficiency of plants was higher in the interior rows in the non-barrier treatment (0.197 kg lint per square meter of leaf area, compared to 0.117 kg in the barrier treatment). The results suggest that trenching or even deep disking parallel to the tree row may reduce competition for water, but the impact on tree growth cannot be established from this study.

Intraspecific variability of phenolic concentrations and their responses to elevated CO 2 in two mediterranean perennial grasses

Intraspecific variability of total phenolic compound concentrations and their responses to elevated CO 2 were studied in two wild Mediterranean perennial grasses, Dactylis glomerata and Bromus erectus. Ten and nine genotypes of each species were grown in climate-controlled naturally-lit glasshouses under plant intergenotypic and interspecific competition for water, light and nutrients. Carbon source–sink balance hypotheses of resource allocation were also tested. Elevated CO 2 induced changes in dry shoot biomass (DM), leaf total non-structural carbohydrate concentrations [TNC] and leaf nitrogen concentrations [N] found in a previous study (New Phytol. 143 (1999) 73) were related to changes in phenolic compound concentrations. Phenolic compound concentrations increased to 15.2% DM in D. glomerata and 86.9% DM in B. erectus under elevated CO 2. These changes were more pronounced when expressed on a structural dry mass basis (DM st). Increases in DM st and [TNC st] and decreases in [N st] were also found according to current resource allocation hypotheses. However, there were no proportional changes between phenolic responses to elevated CO 2 and DM st, [TNC st] and [N st] responses. Phenolic concentrations were highly determined by genetics in both species, but all studied genotypes responded in a similar way to elevated CO 2. Considering the present experimental conditions with plants growing in intraspecific and interspecific competition, the absence of CO 2×genotype interaction would lead to little changes of fitness in terms of antiherbivore chemical defence, and, therefore, to low evolutionary consequences in CBSC under the increasing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations of the next decades.