Bao Fang, Xin Zhiming, Liu Minghu, Li Jiazhu, Gao Ying, Lu Qi, Wu Bo
Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China.
Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China.
Plants (Basel). 2022 Jun 15;11(12):1578. doi: 10.3390/plants11121578.
Fruit setting and ripening are crucial in the reproductive cycle of many desert plant species, but their response to precipitation changes is still unclear. To clarify the response patterns, a long-term in situ water addition experiment with five treatments, namely natural precipitation (control) plus an extra 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the local mean annual precipitation (145 mm), was conducted in a temperate desert in northwestern China. A whole series of fruiting events including the onset, peak, and end of fruit setting and the onset, peak, and end of fruit ripening of a locally dominant shrub, , were observed from 2012 to 2018. The results show that (1) water addition treatments had no significant effects on all six fruiting events in almost all years, and the occurrence time of almost all fruiting events remained relatively stable compared with leaf phenology and flowering phenology after the water addition treatments; (2) the occurrence times of all fruiting events were not correlated to the amounts of water added in the treatments; (3) there are significant inter-annual variations in each fruiting event. However, neither temperature nor precipitation play key roles, but the preceding flowering events drive their inter-annual variation.
坐果和果实成熟在许多沙漠植物物种的生殖周期中至关重要，但它们对降水变化的响应仍不清楚。为了阐明响应模式，在中国西北的一个温带沙漠中进行了一项长期原位增水实验，该实验有五个处理，即自然降水（对照）加上当地年平均降水量（145毫米）的额外25%、50%、75%和100%。从2012年到2018年，观察了一系列结果事件，包括当地一种优势灌木的坐果开始、高峰期和结束以及果实成熟的开始、高峰期和结束。结果表明：（1）增水处理在几乎所有年份对所有六个结果事件均无显著影响，并且在增水处理后，几乎所有结果事件的发生时间与叶物候和开花物候相比保持相对稳定；（2）所有结果事件的发生时间与处理中添加的水量无关；（3）每个结果事件都存在显著的年际变化。然而，温度和降水都不起关键作用，而是先前的开花事件驱动了它们的年际变化。
