scholarly journals Differences in growth-economics of fast vs. slow growing grass species in response to temperature and nitrogen limitation individually, and in combination

BMC Ecology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Colesie ◽  
Zsofia Reka Stangl ◽  
Vaughan Hurry
Keyword(s):  
Nutrient Availability ◽  
Nitrogen Availability ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Fast Growing ◽  
Environment Temperature ◽  
Slow Growing

Abstract Background Fast growing invasive alien species are highly efficient with little investment in their tissues. They often outcompete slower growing species with severe consequences for diversity and community composition. The plant economics trait-based approach provides a theoretical framework, allowing the classification of plants with different performance characteristics. However, in multifaceted background, this approach needs testing. The evaluation and prediction of plant performance outcomes in ecologically relevant settings is among the most pressing topics to understand and predict ecosystem functioning, especially in a quickly changing environment. Temperature and nutrient availability are major components of the global environmental change and this study examines the response of growth economic traits, photosynthesis and respiration to such changes for an invasive fast-growing (Bromus hordaceus) and a slow-growing perennial (Bromus erectus) grass species. Results The fully controlled growth chamber experiment simulated temperature—and changes in nitrogen availability individually and in combination. We therefore provide maximum control and monitoring of growth responses allowing general growth trait response patterns to be tested. Under optimal nitrogen availability the slow growing B. erectus was better able to handle the lower temperatures (7 °C) whilst both species had problems at higher temperatures (30 °C). Stresses produced by a combination of heat and nutrient availability were identified to be less limiting for the slow growing species but the combination of chilling with low nutrient availability was most detrimental to both species. Conclusions For the fast-growing invader B. hordeaceus a reduction of nitrogen availability in combination with a temperature increase, leads to limited growth performance in comparison to the slow-growing perennial species B.erectus and this may explain why nutrient-rich habitats often experience more invasion than resource-poor habitats.

Aphid fitness on 13 grass species: a test of plant defence theory

2000 ◽  
Vol 77 (12) ◽  
pp. 1783-1789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauchlan H Fraser ◽  
J Philip Grime
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Aboveground Biomass ◽  
Plant Defence ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
Fast Growing ◽  
Grain Aphid ◽  
Growth Rate Hypothesis ◽  
Aphid Feeding ◽  
Grass Growth ◽  
Slow Growing

The growth rate hypothesis, which states that fast-growing plants support more herbivores than slow-growing plants, was tested with 12 native and 1 naturalized British grasses using the grain aphid (Sitobion avenae). Five aphids were enclosed with grasses for two weeks in a growth chamber. After 2 weeks, fast-growing plants had 38 aphids, whilst slow-growing plants had 6, which supports the growth-rate hypothesis. When aphid numbers were analysed on plants according to "CSR" theory (Grime 1977, 1979), ruderals (R) had 54, competitors (C) had 18, and stress tolerators (S) had 6. This supports the predictions of CSR theory. Furthermore, aphid numbers increased significantly with grass growth rates and a mollusc palatability index, although this largely resulted from a single outlier, Poa annua. Aphid number was not affected by hairs on grasses. Finally, the effect of aphid feeding on grasses was tested. Generally, the greatest change in total and aboveground biomass of the grasses was found in the ruderals, whilst stress tolerators had the least amount of change.

Growth and carbon economy of a fast-growing and a slow-growing grass species as dependent on nitrate supply

1995 ◽  
Vol 171 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik Poorter ◽  
Claudius A. D. M. van de Vijver ◽  
René G. A. Boot ◽  
Hans Lambers
Keyword(s):  
Grass Species ◽  
Fast Growing ◽  
Nitrate Supply ◽  
Slow Growing ◽  
Carbon Economy

Effects of simulated moose browsing on growth, mortality, and fecundity in Scots pine: relations to plant productivity

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Edenius ◽  
Kjell Danell ◽  
Hans Nyquist
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Scots Pine ◽  
Plant Productivity ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Mortality Factor ◽  
Fast Growing ◽  
Plant Animal Interactions ◽  
Slow Growing ◽  
Moose Browsing

Current theory on plant–animal interactions predicts that the outcome of herbivory on plant performance will be dependent on plant productivity. Thus, slow-growing plants should be less able to compensate for biomass losses than fast-growing plants, and therefore be more susceptible to herbivory if attacked. We simulated winter browsing by moose (Alcesalces (L.)) on Scots pine (Pinussylvestris L.) along a gradient of plant productivity and addressed the following questions: (1) Does herbivory affect growth independently of plant productivity? (2) Is herbivory a more important mortality factor for slow-growing than for fast-growing plants? (3) Is there any effect of herbivory on fecundity, and is it related to plant productivity? Two clipping regimes simulated different intensities of moose winter browsing. Mortality was followed annually, and after 4 years we measured tree growth and fecundity on control as well as on treatment pines. The effect of clipping on growth was related with both clipping intensity and plant productivity. In the light-clipping treatment mortality was restricted to the slow-growing pines, in contrast with the severe treatment, where it occurred across the whole range of plant growth. Moreover, in the light-clipping treatment most mortality occurred within 1 year after treatment, whereas tree death occurred over 2 or more years in the severe treatment. We found no effect of age on mortality within growth-rate classes. The proportion of trees with cones increased with growth rate for control trees but not for treated trees, indicating that herbivory more strongly affects fecundity on fast-growing than on slow-growing trees. Our results confirm the hypothesis that herbivory affects plant performance differently across a gradient of plant productivity. We suggest that mammalian herbivores can increase mortality of plant genets after the seedling stage primarily in stands on low-productivity sites, especially in combination with a high density of the herbivore.

scholarly journals Genotypic traits and tradeoffs of fast growth in silver birch, a pioneer tree

Oecologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juha Mikola ◽  
Katariina Koikkalainen ◽  
Mira Rasehorn ◽  
Tarja Silfver ◽  
Ulla Paaso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Competition ◽  
Leaf Growth ◽  
N Uptake ◽  
Insect Herbivory ◽  
Fast Growth ◽  
Grass Cover ◽  
Soil N ◽  
Fast Growing ◽  
Slow Growing ◽  
Leaf N

AbstractFast-growing and slow-growing plant species are suggested to show integrated economics spectrums and the tradeoffs of fast growth are predicted to emerge as susceptibility to herbivory and resource competition. We tested if these predictions also hold for fast-growing and slow-growing genotypes within a silver birch, Betula pendula population. We exposed cloned saplings of 17 genotypes with slow, medium or fast height growth to reduced insect herbivory, using an insecticide, and to increasing resource competition, using naturally varying field plot grass cover. We measured shoot and root growth, ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal production using ergosterol analysis and soil N transfer to leaves using 15N-labelled pulse of NH4+. We found that fast-growing genotypes grew on average 78% faster, produced 56% and 16% more leaf mass and ergosterol, and showed 78% higher leaf N uptake than slow-growing genotypes. The insecticide decreased leaf damage by 83% and increased shoot growth, leaf growth and leaf N uptake by 38%, 52% and 76%, without differences between the responses of fast-growing and slow-growing genotypes, whereas root mass decreased with increasing grass cover. Shoot and leaf growth of fast-growing genotypes decreased and EM fungal production of slow-growing genotypes increased with increasing grass cover. Our results suggest that fast growth is genotypically associated with higher allocation to EM fungi, better soil N capture and greater leaf production, and that the tradeoff of fast growth is sensitivity to competition, but not to insect herbivory. EM fungi may have a dual role: to support growth of fast-growing genotypes under low grass competition and to maintain growth of slow-growing genotypes under intensifying competition.

scholarly journals Studies on the Regulation of Algal Growth by Gibberellin

1971 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
RC Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Red Algae ◽  
Algal Growth ◽  
Red Alga ◽  
General Phenomenon ◽  
Hypnea Musciformis ◽  
Fast Growing ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Amo 1618 ◽  
Slow Growing

CCC and Amo.1618, at relatively high concentrations only, inhibited the growth of excised branch apices of the red alga Hypnea musciformis. Neither GA3 nor GA7 stimulated growth of the alga in the presence or absence of these compounds, and gibberellin-like material extracted from H. musciformis also failed to stimulate growth. However, both gibberellins stimulated the growth of slow-growing, but not fast-growing, branch apices of the related red alga Gracilaria verucosa. It is concluded that endogenous gibberellins may not regulate the growth of H. musciformis, but this is likely to be a peculiarity of this species and not a general phenomenon in red algae.

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