Yang Shanlin, Cui Rongrong, Yang Xueying, Sun Kexin, Liu Yuwei, Han Bing, Zhou Chunzhi, Liu Bingyan
College of Landscape Architecture, Changchun University, Jilin, China.
PLoS One. 2025 May 9;20(5):e0321259. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321259. eCollection 2025.
Nitrogen deposition and precipitation are the topics of current global climate change, and also the major environmental factors influencing plant growth. This study utilized the ephemeral plant H. erectum, which is distributed in the Gurbantunggut Desert in northwest China, as the experimental material to analyze the influence of nitrogen deposition and water-nitrogen interaction treatment on the phenology, survival rate, plant traits, biomass accumulation, and seed dormancy of spring- and autumn-germinated plants. The research results indicate that increased nitrogen increases the survival rate of H. erectum spring- and autumn-germinated plants. There is no significant impact on phenological events. However, plant traits such as leaf number, leaf area, branch number, seed quantity, and biomass accumulation are all reduced. During the growth and development process, more biomass is allocated to reproductive organs, and result in the production of a large number of non-dormant seeds. Therefore, in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, nitrogen deposition plays a crucial role in the survival of plants and the rapid reproduction of offspring. After water-nitrogen interaction treatment, the survival rate of H. erectum spring- and autumn-germinated plants significantly increased. The main phenology (leafing date, first flowering date, last flowering date, fruiting date and withering date) were delayed, extending the life cycle of reproductive growth. Biomass accumulation in all organs increased with a same allocation trend, produce a large number of dormant seeds. Therefore, precipitation not only influences the biomass allocation of plants and regulates their nitrogen uptake, changes the growth mechanisms of plants in adverse environments.
氮沉降和降水是当前全球气候变化的主题，也是影响植物生长的主要环境因素。本研究以分布于中国西北古尔班通古特沙漠的一年生植物直立黄芪为实验材料，分析氮沉降及水氮交互处理对春秋季萌发植株物候、存活率、植物性状、生物量积累及种子休眠的影响。研究结果表明，增施氮素提高了直立黄芪春秋季萌发植株的存活率，对物候事件无显著影响，但叶片数、叶面积、分枝数、种子数量和生物量积累等植物性状均降低，且在生长发育过程中更多生物量分配到繁殖器官，产生大量非休眠种子。因此，在干旱和半干旱生态系统中，氮沉降对植物存活及后代快速繁殖起关键作用。水氮交互处理后，直立黄芪春秋季萌发植株存活率显著提高，主要物候期（展叶期、始花期、终花期、结实期和枯萎期）推迟，延长了生殖生长周期，各器官生物量积累增加且分配趋势一致，产生大量休眠种子。因此，降水不仅影响植物生物量分配、调节植物氮素吸收，还改变植物在逆境中的生长机制。
