School of Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
PLoS One. 2013 Jul 30;8(7):e69836. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069836. Print 2013.
Soil is commonly composed of particles of different sizes, and soil particle size may greatly affect the growth of plants because it affects soil physical and chemical properties. However, no study has tested the effects of soil particle heterogeneity on the growth of clonal plants. We conducted a greenhouse experiment in which individual ramets of the wetland plant Bolboschoenus planiculmis were grown in three homogeneous soil treatments with uniformly sized quartz particles (small: 0.75 mm, medium: 1.5 mm, or large: 3 mm), one homogeneous treatment with an even mixture of large and medium particles, and two heterogeneous treatments consisting of 16 or 4 patches of large and medium particles. Biomass, ramet number, rhizome length and spacer length were significantly greater in the treatment with only medium particles than in the one with only large particles. Biomass, ramet number, rhizome length and tuber number in the patchy treatments were greater in patches of medium than of large particles; this difference was more pronounced when patches were small than when they were large. Soil particle size and soil particle heterogeneity can greatly affect the growth of clonal plants. Thus, studies to test the effects of soil heterogeneity on clonal plants should distinguish the effects of nutrient heterogeneity from those of particle heterogeneity.
土壤通常由不同大小的颗粒组成，土壤颗粒大小可能会极大地影响植物的生长，因为它会影响土壤的物理和化学性质。然而，尚无研究测试土壤颗粒异质性对克隆植物生长的影响。我们进行了一项温室实验，在该实验中，湿地植物扁秆藨草的个体分株在三种均一的土壤处理中生长，这些土壤处理分别使用大小均匀的石英颗粒（小：0.75 毫米，中：1.5 毫米，大：3 毫米）、大小均匀的混合颗粒的均一处理以及由 16 或 4 个大、中颗粒斑块组成的两个异质处理。与仅使用大颗粒的处理相比，仅使用中颗粒的处理中的生物量、分株数、根茎长度和间隔长度显著更大。在斑块处理中，斑块中的中颗粒比大颗粒的生物量、分株数、根茎长度和块茎数更大；当斑块较小时，这种差异比斑块较大时更为明显。土壤颗粒大小和土壤颗粒异质性会极大地影响克隆植物的生长。因此，测试土壤异质性对克隆植物影响的研究应区分养分异质性和颗粒异质性的影响。
