PMID- 35185988
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20231103
IS  - 1664-462X (Print)
IS  - 1664-462X (Electronic)
IS  - 1664-462X (Linking)
VI  - 13
DP  - 2022
TI  - Land Degradation Changes the Role of Above- and Belowground Competition in 
      Regulating Plant Biomass Allocation in an Alpine Meadow.
PG  - 822594
LID - 10.3389/fpls.2022.822594 [doi]
LID - 822594
AB  - The allocation pattern of plant biomass presents the strategy of the plant 
      community to adopt environmental changes, while the driver of biomass allocation 
      is still unclear in degraded alpine grassland ecosystems. To explore the issue, 
      this study investigated the shoot-to-root (R/S) ratio, plant aboveground traits, 
      and root competition of three functional groups (i.e., grasses, sedges, and 
      forbs) at three degradation levels (i.e., no obvious degradation, ND; moderate 
      degradation, MD; and severe degradation, SD) in an alpine meadow in the eastern 
      Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The relationships among plant aboveground traits, root 
      competition, and R/S ratio were tested using the structural equation model (SEM). 
      The results showed that the shoot and root biomass tended to decrease, but the 
      R/S ratio of the plant community did not change along the degradation gradient. 
      Plant height, lateral spread, and leaf length of most plant functional groups 
      reduced, while leaf width and leaf area of most plant functional groups did not 
      change along the degradation gradients. The root competition ability (presented 
      as the fraction of root biomass in total biomass) of sedges in MD was the lowest, 
      while that of grasses was the highest. The effects of aboveground competition on 
      the R/S ratio were non-linear because of the different roles of plant height, 
      lateral spread, and leaf area in regulating the R/S ratio along the degradation 
      gradient. In contrast, the effects of belowground competition on the R/S ratio 
      were linear because belowground competition promoted the R/S ratio, and the 
      strength of this effect reduced along the degradation gradient. These results 
      indicate that plant competition might be a critical factor to maintain the high 
      R/S ratio in degraded alpine meadows.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2022 Zhang, Zheng, Gao, Ma, Liang, Yue, Huang, Wu and Wang.
FAU - Zhang, Yong
AU  - Zhang Y
AD  - Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Wetland Conservation, Restoration and Ecological 
      Services, College of Wetlands, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China.
AD  - National Plateau Wetlands Research Center, Southwest Forestry University, 
      Kunming, China.
FAU - Zheng, Qiuzhu
AU  - Zheng Q
AD  - Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Wetland Conservation, Restoration and Ecological 
      Services, College of Wetlands, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China.
AD  - National Plateau Wetlands Research Center, Southwest Forestry University, 
      Kunming, China.
FAU - Gao, Xiaoxia
AU  - Gao X
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, 
      Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
FAU - Ma, Yandan
AU  - Ma Y
AD  - Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Wetland Conservation, Restoration and Ecological 
      Services, College of Wetlands, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China.
AD  - National Plateau Wetlands Research Center, Southwest Forestry University, 
      Kunming, China.
FAU - Liang, Kemin
AU  - Liang K
AD  - Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Wetland Conservation, Restoration and Ecological 
      Services, College of Wetlands, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China.
AD  - National Plateau Wetlands Research Center, Southwest Forestry University, 
      Kunming, China.
FAU - Yue, Haitao
AU  - Yue H
AD  - Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Wetland Conservation, Restoration and Ecological 
      Services, College of Wetlands, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China.
AD  - National Plateau Wetlands Research Center, Southwest Forestry University, 
      Kunming, China.
FAU - Huang, Xiaoxia
AU  - Huang X
AD  - School of Earth Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
FAU - Wu, Kaiting
AU  - Wu K
AD  - Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Wetland Conservation, Restoration and Ecological 
      Services, College of Wetlands, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China.
AD  - National Plateau Wetlands Research Center, Southwest Forestry University, 
      Kunming, China.
FAU - Wang, Xiaorong
AU  - Wang X
AD  - Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Wetland Conservation, Restoration and Ecological 
      Services, College of Wetlands, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China.
AD  - National Plateau Wetlands Research Center, Southwest Forestry University, 
      Kunming, China.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20220203
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Front Plant Sci
JT  - Frontiers in plant science
JID - 101568200
PMC - PMC8850915
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - R/S ratio
OT  - aboveground traits
OT  - alpine meadow
OT  - eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
OT  - land degradation
OT  - root competition
COIS- The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any 
      commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential 
      conflict of interest.
EDAT- 2022/02/22 06:00
MHDA- 2022/02/22 06:01
PMCR- 2022/01/01
CRDT- 2022/02/21 06:01
PHST- 2021/11/26 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2022/01/05 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/02/21 06:01 [entrez]
PHST- 2022/02/22 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2022/02/22 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2022/01/01 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.3389/fpls.2022.822594 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Front Plant Sci. 2022 Feb 3;13:822594. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.822594. eCollection 
      2022.