Separation of allelopathy and resource competition by the boreal dwarf shrub Empetrum hermaphroditum Hagerup

Oecologia - Tập 98 - Trang 1-7 - 1994
Marie-Charlotte Nilsson1
1Department of Forest Vegetation Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden

Tóm tắt

An experimental technique was used to separate and evaluate the magnitude of allelopathic interference relative to resource competition by the boreal dwarf shrub Empetrum hermaphroditum Hagerup (Empetraceae). To test for resource competition and allelopathy, respectively, Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings were grown in both the greenhouse and in the field over a 3 year period, in four different treatments within E. hermaphroditum vegetation: (1) PVC tubes were used to reduce effects of interspecific below-ground competition; (2) activated carbon was spread on the soil to adsorb toxins leached from E. hermaphroditum litter and green leaves, thus reducing effects of allelopathic interference; (3) E. hermaphroditum vegetation was left untreated to evaluate inhibiting effects when both allelopathy and resource competition were present; (4) PVC tubes, placed in E. hermaphroditum vegetation spread with activated carbon were used to determine growth of seedlings when both allelopathy and resource competition were reduced. Scots pine seedlings grown in untreated vegetation (with both root competition and allelopathy present) had the lowest shoot length and dry weight; seedlings with both allelopathy and root competition reduced (activated carbon in tube) were the largest. Reducing either root competition alone (tube treatment) or allelopathy alone (carbon treatment) produced seedlings of intermediate size, but reduced competition had a greater effect than reduced allelopathy (although, in the greenhouse, significantly so only for root biomass). In the greenhouse experiment, biomass production of seedlings grown free of both interactions (carbon in tube) was greater than the simple sum of the growth response to the individual interactions (tube treatment and carbon treatment, respectively). Larger shoot:root ratios were also found when pine seedlings were grown without tubes (i.e. when resource competition was occurring). In the field, the removal of allelopathy (carbon treatments) increased shoot:root ratio when compared to the removal of resource competition. The study showed that two different interference mechanisms of E. hermaphroditum can be separated and quantified, and that below-ground competition and allelopathy by E. hermaphroditum are both important factors retarding growth of Scots pine.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Aerts R (1989) The effect of increased nutrient availability on leaf turnover and aboveground productivity of two evergreen ericaceous shrubs. Oecologia 78: 115–120 Aerts R, Berendse F (1988) The effect of increased nutrient availability on vegetation dynamics in wet heathlands. Vegetatio 76: 63–69 Bazzaz FA (1990) Plant-plant interactions in successional environments. In: Grace JB, Tilman D (eds) Perspectives on plant competition. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 239–263 Bell DT, Koeppe DE (1972) Noncompetitive effects of giant foxtail on the growth of corn. Agron J 64: 321–325 Berendse F, Aerts R (1984) Competition between Erica tetralix L. and Molinia caerulea (L.) Moench as affected by the availability of nutrients. Acta Oecol (Oecol Plant) 5: 3–14 Blum DJW, Suffet IH, Duguet JP (1993) Estimating the activated carbon adsorption of organic chemicals in water. CRC Crit Rev Environ Sci Technol 23: 121–136 Campbell BD, Grime JP (1992) An experimental test of plant strategy theory. Ecology 73: 15–29 Chapin FS (1980) The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 11: 233–260 Chapin FS III, Shaver GR (1985) Individualistic growth response of tundra plant species to environmental manipulations in the field. Ecology 66: 564–576 Cheremisinoff PN, Ellerbusch F (1978) Carbon adsorption handbook. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, Mich Connell JH (1990) Apparent versus “real” competition in plants. In: Grace JB, Tilman D (eds) Perspectives on plant competition. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 9–26 Cook SJ, Ratcliff D (1984) A study of the effects of root and shoot competition on the growth of green panic (Panicum maximum var. trichoglume) seedlings in an existing grassland using root exclusion tubes. J Appl Ecol 21: 971–982 Ebeling F (1977) Forest type classification, a base for silviculture in northern Sweden (in Swedish). Skogen 13: 572–575 Eliasson L (1959) Inhibition of the growth of wheat roots in nutrient solutions by substances excuded from the roots. Kungl Lantbrukshögskolans Annaler 25: 285–293 Fridborg G, Eriksson T (1978) The effect of activated charcoal on tissue cultures: adsorption of metabolites inhibiting morphogenesis. Physiol Plant 43: 104–106 Fuerst EP, Putnam AR (1983) Separating the competitive and allelopathic components of interference: theoretical principles. Chem Ecol 9: 937–944 Goldberg DE, Barton AM (1992) Patterns and consequences of interspecific competition in natural communities: a review of field experiments with plants. Am Nat 139: 771–801 Grime JP (1977) Evidence of the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance to ecological and evolutionary theory. Am Nat 111: 1169–1194 Haapasaari H (1988) The oligotrophic heath vegetation of northern Fennoscandia and its zonation. Acta Bot Fenn 135 Hagner M (1984) How is tree seedlings influenced by clear cut microhabitats? (in Swedish). In: Bäckström PO (ed) Skogsföryngring in fjällnära skogar. Rapport ISBN 91-576-2162-4, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Umeå Harper JL (1977) Population biology of plants. Academic Press, London Havas P, Kubin E (1983) Structure, growth and organic matter content in the vegetation cover of an old spruce forest in Northern Finland Ann Bot Fenn 20: 115–149 Horsley SB (1993) Mechanisms of interferences between hayscented fern and black cherry. Can J For Res 23:2059–2069 Ingestad T, Kähr M (1985) Nutrition and growth of coniferous seedlings at varied relative nitrogen addition rate. Physiol Plant 65: 109–116 Jacksonmoss CA, Maree JP, Wotton SC (1992) Treatment of bleach plant effluent with the biological granular activated carbon process. Water Sci Technol 26: 427–434 Jobidon R, Thibault J-R (1982) Allelopathic growth inhibition of nodulated and unnodulated Alnus crispa seedlings by Populus balsamifera. Am J Bot 69: 1213–1223 Johansson L (1983) Effects of activated charcoal in anther cultures. Physiol Plant 59: 397–403 Kellner O (1993) Effects on associated flora of sylvicultural nitrogen fertilization repeated at long intervals. J Appl Ecol 30: 563–574 Killham K (1990) Nitrification in coniferous forest soils. Plant and Soil 128: 31–44 Kope HH, Fortin JA (1990) Antifungal activity in culture filtrates of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Pisolithus tinctorius. Can J Bot 68: 1254–1257 Legg CJ, Maltby E, Proctor MCF (1992) The ecology of severe moorland fire on the North York Moors: seed distribution and seedling establishment of Calluna vulgaris. J Ecol 80: 737–752 Lodhi MAK, Killingbeck KT (1980) Allelopathic inhibition of nitrification and nitrifying bacteria in a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl.) community. Am J Bot 67: 1423–1429 Lovett JV, Jokinen K (1984) A modified stairstep apparatus for studies of allelopathy and other phytotoxic effects. J Agric Sci Fin 56: 1–7 Mahall BE, Callaway RM (1992) Root communication mechanisms and intracommunity distributions of two mojave desert shrubs. Ecology 73: 2145–2151 Malmström C (1949) Studies of forest types and tree distribution in the province of Västerbotten (in Swedish). Medd Statens skogsforsknings inst 37: 1–231 Mattson JS, Mark Jr HB (1971) Activated carbon. Surface chemistry and adsorption from slution. Dekker, New York McGraw JB, Chapin FS III (1989) Competitive ability and adaptation to fertile and infertile soils in two Eriophorum species. Ecology 70: 736–749 Mensuali-Sodi A, Panizza M, Serra G, Tognoni F (1993) Involvement of activated charcoal in the modulation of abiotic and biotic ethylene levels in tissue cultures. Sci Hortic 54: 49–57 Morgan WC, Morgans AS (1992) Potential use of activated carbon as a protectant against pre-emergence herbicides in direct-seeded processing tomatoes. Weed Res 32: 87–94 Mork E (1946) On the dwarf shrub vegetation on forest ground (in Norwegian). Medd Nor skogförsökyesen 33: 269–356 Nilsson M-C, Zackrisson O (1992) Inhibition of Scots pine establishment by Empetrum hermaphroditum. J Chem Ecol 18: 1857–1870 Nilsson M-C, Högberg P, Zackrisson O, Fengyou W (1993) Allelopathic effects of Empetrum hermaphroditum on development and nitrogen uptake by roots and mycorrhizas of Pinus silvestrics. Can J Bot 71: 620–628 Odén PC, Brandtberg PO, Andersson R, Gref R, Zackrisson O, Nilsson M-C (1992) Isolation and characterization of a germination inhibitor from leaves of Empetrum hermaphroditum Hagerup. Scand J For Res 7: 497–502 Qasem JR, Hill TA (1989) On difficulties with allelopathy methodology. Weed Res 29: 345–347 Reichenberger G, Pyke DA (1990) Impact of early root competition on fitness components of four semiarid species. Oecologia 85: 159–166 Rice EL (1984) Allelopathy, 2nd edn. Academic Press, Orlando Rice EL (1992) Allelopathic effects on nitrogen cycling. In: Ritzvi SJH, Rizvi V (eds) Allelopathy: basic and applied aspects. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 31–58 Rice EL, Pancholy SK (1972) Inhibition of nitrification by climax ecosystems. Am J Bot 60: 691–702 Sarvas R (1950) Investigations into the natural regeneration of selectively cut private forests in northern Finland (summary in English). Commun Inst For Fenn 38: 85–95 Shilling DG, Dusky JA, Mossler MA, Bewick TA (1992) Allelopathic potential of celery residues on lettuce. J Am Soc Hort Sci 117: 308–312 Shneour EA (1966) Oxidation of graphitic carbon in certain soils. Science 151: 991–992 Voice TC, Pak D, Zhao XD, Shi J, Hickey RF (1992) Biological activated carbon in fluidized bed reactors for the treatment of groundwater contaminated with volatile aromatic hydrocarbons. Water Res 26: 1389–1401 Wedin DA, Tilman D (1990) Species effects on nitrogen cycling: a test with perennial grasses. Oecologia 84: 433–441 Weidenhamer JD, Harnett DC, Romeo JT (1989) Density-dependent phytotoxicity: distinguishing resource competition and allelopathic interference in plants. J Appl Ecol 26: 613–624 White CS (1986) Volatile and water-soluble inhibitors of nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in a ponderosa pine ecosystem. Biol Fert Soils 2: 97–104 Williamson GB (1990) Allelopathy, Koch's postulates, and the neck riddle. In: Grace JB, Tilman D (eds) Perspectives on plant competition, Academic Press, San Diego, pp 143–162 Wilson JB (1988) A review of evidence on the control of shoot:root ratio, in relation to models. Ann Bot 61: 433–449 Zackrisson O, Nilsson M-C (1992) Allelopathic effects by Empetrum hermaphroditum on seed germination of two boreal tree species. Can J For Res 22: 1310–1319