In nature, essential resources for organisms, such as food for animals and light, water and nutrients for plants, are usually heterogeneously distributed, even at very small scale. As a result, all organisms, particul...In nature, essential resources for organisms, such as food for animals and light, water and nutrients for plants, are usually heterogeneously distributed, even at very small scale. As a result, all organisms, particularly plants mostly sessile, have a difficulty in acquiring essential resources from their environments. Animals express various types of foraging behavior to capture heterogeneously distributed essential foods. Clonal growth ( a vegetative reproductive process where by more than one individual of identical genetic composition is formed ) provides clonal plant not only with many “mouths” at different spatial positions, but also with a large spacial movability. As a clonal plant grows in environments characterized by a small scale resource heterogeneity, its inter ramet connection permits a resource sharing among the connected ramets. In addition, it may also allow certain ramets to respond locally and non locally to resousce heterogeneity. This may lead to a division of labor among the connected ramets and a selective placement of ramets in favorable micro habitats. Together these may enhance exploitation of resource heterogeneity by clonal plants, and in turn greatly contribute to maintenance or improvement of fitness. Such a behavior of clonal plants, expressed in heterogeneous environments, is to a large extent comparable to that of animals. Therefore, it has been considered as foraging behavior in clonal plants. More recently, it has been observed that phenotypic plasticity of clonal plants, which is relevant to foraging behavior, varies among species, types of genet architecture as well as among types of plants’ habitats. Foraging in clonal plants and its diversity have been receiving increasingly intensive investigations.展开更多
Desertification is a process in which vegetation cover degrades followed by increased wind and water erosion. Plants adapted to moving sand conditions are able to reverse this process. They can stabilize die substrate...Desertification is a process in which vegetation cover degrades followed by increased wind and water erosion. Plants adapted to moving sand conditions are able to reverse this process. They can stabilize die substrate. Not much data is available on the soil stabilization capacity of plants. This study was conducted to investigate the wind-induced sand displacement around plants in relation to their biomass. Sand displacement is examined in relation to the biomass allocation pattern of three different plant species. A new method was developed to experimentally investigate plant sand-binding capacity. The relationship between sand displacement and plant biomass was not linear. Apart from the amount of biomass, species-specific plant characters like the biomass allocation pattern and plant structure may be very important in determining the sand-binding capacity.展开更多
文摘In nature, essential resources for organisms, such as food for animals and light, water and nutrients for plants, are usually heterogeneously distributed, even at very small scale. As a result, all organisms, particularly plants mostly sessile, have a difficulty in acquiring essential resources from their environments. Animals express various types of foraging behavior to capture heterogeneously distributed essential foods. Clonal growth ( a vegetative reproductive process where by more than one individual of identical genetic composition is formed ) provides clonal plant not only with many “mouths” at different spatial positions, but also with a large spacial movability. As a clonal plant grows in environments characterized by a small scale resource heterogeneity, its inter ramet connection permits a resource sharing among the connected ramets. In addition, it may also allow certain ramets to respond locally and non locally to resousce heterogeneity. This may lead to a division of labor among the connected ramets and a selective placement of ramets in favorable micro habitats. Together these may enhance exploitation of resource heterogeneity by clonal plants, and in turn greatly contribute to maintenance or improvement of fitness. Such a behavior of clonal plants, expressed in heterogeneous environments, is to a large extent comparable to that of animals. Therefore, it has been considered as foraging behavior in clonal plants. More recently, it has been observed that phenotypic plasticity of clonal plants, which is relevant to foraging behavior, varies among species, types of genet architecture as well as among types of plants’ habitats. Foraging in clonal plants and its diversity have been receiving increasingly intensive investigations.
文摘Desertification is a process in which vegetation cover degrades followed by increased wind and water erosion. Plants adapted to moving sand conditions are able to reverse this process. They can stabilize die substrate. Not much data is available on the soil stabilization capacity of plants. This study was conducted to investigate the wind-induced sand displacement around plants in relation to their biomass. Sand displacement is examined in relation to the biomass allocation pattern of three different plant species. A new method was developed to experimentally investigate plant sand-binding capacity. The relationship between sand displacement and plant biomass was not linear. Apart from the amount of biomass, species-specific plant characters like the biomass allocation pattern and plant structure may be very important in determining the sand-binding capacity.
