自然界的氮素释放总是呈现出空间和时间上的异质性,但关于异质性氮释放对于入侵植物和本地植物种间关系影响的研究相对较少。将入侵植物空心莲子草(Alternanthera philoxeroides)和同属本地植物莲子草(Alternanthera sessilis)分别进行单种种植(12株,无种间竞争)和混种种植(每种6株,有种间竞争),模拟大气氮湿沉降设置由两种不同施氮总量(15g N m^(-2)a^(-1)和30g N m^(-2)a^(-1))和两种不同施氮频率(每5天1次和每15天1次)交叉组成的4种施氮处理,并以不施氮为对照。施氮总量的增加显著促进了两种植物的生长,但对两种植物的种间竞争关系没有显著影响。施氮频率对两种植物的生长以及种间竞争关系都没有显著影响。两种植物在面对竞争时表现出不同的生物量分配策略,空心莲子草将更多的生物量分配到茎,而莲子草将更多的生物量分配到根。在全球变化的背景下,大气氮湿沉降可能会改变两种植物的种群结构和动态,但可能对这两种植物的种间关系影响较小。
Aims The diversity-productivity relationship is one of the most critical questions in ecology and can be altered by environmental factors.Hydrological fluctuation affects growth of wetland plants,and such effects vary with plant species.Therefore,we hypothesized that hydrological fluctuation changes effects of species richness on productivity of wetland plant communities.Methods We constructed wetland plant communities consisting of three or six wetland plant species and subjected them to hydrological fluctuation(i.e.gradually changing water level)of two frequencies and two ranges,with unchanged water level as the control.We measured height,root and shoot dry mass of each plant at harvest.Important Findings Hydrological fluctuation significantly decreased biomass of wetland plant communities,which was due to impacts of fluctuation range,but not those of fluctuation frequency.Community biomass was significantly higher when species richness was higher,and such an effect did not depend on hydrological fluctuation.Therefore,hydrological fluctuation can decrease the productivity of wetland plant communities but may not alter the diversity-productivity relationship.
