Graduate Program in Ecology (PPG-Ecology), State University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil.
Plant Ecology Laboratory, Penedo Educational Unit, Federal University of Alagoas, Penedo, AL, Brazil.
J Plant Res. 2024 Sep;137(5):879-892. doi: 10.1007/s10265-024-01560-1. Epub 2024 Jul 17.
Plant biomass allocation is mainly affected by the environment where each individual grows. In this sense, through the rapid global expansion of impermeable areas, urbanization has strong, albeit poorly understood, consequences on the biomass allocation of plants found in this environment. Nevertheless, the comprehension of biomass allocation processes in urban shrubs remains unclear, because most studies of urban ecology focus on tree species. This is an important gap of knowledge because a great part of urban vegetation is composed of shrubs and their association with trees have positive impacts in urban ecosystem services. In this study, we explored the ecological and potential selective pressure effects of an urbanization gradient on the biomass allocation patterns of aboveground organs of Turnera subulata, a widely distributed tropical shrub. We have demonstrated that, for certain reproductive organs, biomass allocation decreases in locations with higher urbanization. Unlike expected, the biomass of vegetative organs was not affected by urbanization, and we did not observe any effect of urbanization intensity on the variance in biomass allocation to vegetative and reproductive organs. We did not record urbanization-mediated trade-offs in biomass allocation for reproductive and vegetative organs. Instead, the biomass of these structures showed a positive relationship. Our data suggest that urbanization does not result in radical changes in biomass allocation of T. subulata, and neither in the variation of these traits. They indicate that the ability of T. subulata to thrive in urban environments may be associated with life history and morphological mechanisms. Our findings contribute to the understanding of shrub plant responses to urbanization and highlight urbanization as a potential factor in resource allocation differences for different structures and functions in plants living in these environments.
植物生物量分配主要受个体生长环境的影响。从这个意义上说，不透水区域的快速全球扩张，城市化对植物生物量分配产生了强烈的影响，尽管人们对其了解甚少。然而，城市灌木生物量分配过程的理解仍然不清楚，因为大多数城市生态学研究都集中在树种上。这是一个重要的知识空白，因为城市植被的很大一部分由灌木组成，它们与树木的结合对城市生态系统服务有积极的影响。在这项研究中，我们探讨了城市化梯度对广泛分布的热带灌木 Turnera subulata 地上器官生物量分配模式的生态和潜在选择压力的影响。我们已经证明，对于某些生殖器官，在城市化程度较高的地方，生物量分配会减少。与预期相反，营养器官的生物量不受城市化的影响，我们也没有观察到城市化强度对营养和生殖器官生物量分配的方差有任何影响。我们没有记录到由于城市化而导致生殖和营养器官生物量分配的权衡。相反，这些结构的生物量表现出正相关关系。我们的数据表明，城市化不会导致 T. subulata 生物量分配发生根本性变化，也不会导致这些特征发生变化。这表明，T. subulata 在城市环境中茁壮成长的能力可能与其生活史和形态机制有关。我们的研究结果有助于理解灌木植物对城市化的反应，并强调城市化可能是这些环境中不同结构和功能植物资源分配差异的一个潜在因素。
