Edwards Keith R, Glocker Bernhard, Mastný Jiří, Picek Tomáš
Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czechia.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 Apr 28;16:1542907. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1542907. eCollection 2025.
Maintenance of species coexistence is an important and on-going subject of plant ecology. Here, we aimed to determine how and , two common, co-occurring plant species in European wet grasslands, respond to changing environmental conditions and what these changes portend for coexistence of these two species. Such studies are important for predicting and modelling the effects of management and climate change on wet grassland plant species composition and for maintaining the ability of wet grasslands to provide their important ecosystem services including carbon sequestration and water purification. Based on past studies, we hypothesized that both species would be affected by hydrologic changes but that these effects would be modified by nutrient conditions with fertilization having a more positive impact on .
We established a mesocosm to distinguish the effect of hydrology and nutrients on the biomass allocation patterns of these two species to determine how environmental conditions may impact the life history traits of these two species, which would influence their ability to co-exist. Plants were grown in pots from late May to early September 2019 and subjected to two nutrient and three water level treatments. Half of the plants were harvested in July while the other half were harvested in early September and their biomass allocation patterns calculated. Univariable and multivariable analyses were conducted to determine the effects of the environmental treatments on the measured parameters. In addition, we determined the phenotypic plasticity of the two species and whether these showed allometric relationships to plant size.
was affected more by hydrologic changes, growing better in dry and saturated conditions, while fertilization had a more positive effect on . Both species were stressed when flooded, but more so than . Contrary to our predictions, produced more ramets and was taller than . Both species showed plastic responses to changing nutrient and water conditions, but only some were related to plant size. Our results indicate that and are more likely to co-exist in oligo- to mesotrophic wet grasslands with fluctuating water levels.
维持物种共存是植物生态学中一个重要且持续研究的课题。在此，我们旨在确定欧洲湿润草地中两种常见且共生的植物物种X和Y如何应对不断变化的环境条件，以及这些变化对这两个物种共存意味着什么。此类研究对于预测和模拟管理及气候变化对湿润草地植物物种组成的影响，以及维持湿润草地提供包括碳固存和水净化在内的重要生态系统服务的能力至关重要。基于以往研究，我们假设这两个物种都会受到水文变化的影响，但这些影响会因养分条件而改变，施肥对X有更积极的影响。
我们建立了一个中型生态系统，以区分水文和养分对这两个物种生物量分配模式的影响，从而确定环境条件如何影响这两个物种的生活史特征，而这将影响它们共存的能力。植物于2019年5月下旬至9月上旬在花盆中生长，并接受两种养分和三种水位处理。一半的植物在7月收获，另一半在9月初收获，并计算它们的生物量分配模式。进行单变量和多变量分析以确定环境处理对测量参数的影响。此外，我们确定了这两个物种的表型可塑性，以及它们是否与植物大小呈现异速生长关系。
X受水文变化影响更大，在干燥和饱和条件下生长更好，而施肥对Y有更积极的影响。两个物种在被水淹时都会受到胁迫，但X比Y更严重。与我们的预测相反，X产生了更多的分株且更高。两个物种对变化的养分和水分条件都表现出可塑性反应，但只有一些与植物大小有关。我们的结果表明，X和Y更有可能在水位波动的贫营养至中营养湿润草地中共存。
