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Effects of Soil Nutrient Heterogeneity and Earthworms on Aboveground Biomass of Experimental Plant Communities

Phyton (Buenos Aires), 2021, Vol.90 (4), p.1259-1271

2021. This work is licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. ;ISSN: 1851-5657 ;ISSN: 0031-9457 ;EISSN: 1851-5657 ;DOI: 10.32604/phyton.2021.014968

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  • Title:
    Effects of Soil Nutrient Heterogeneity and Earthworms on Aboveground Biomass of Experimental Plant Communities
  • Author: Yao, Simei ; Jin, Yu ; Zhang, Limin ; Lei, Ningfei ; Xue, Wei ; Chen, Jinsong ; Zhang, Qian ; Yu, Feihai
  • Subjects: Biomass ; Forbs ; Functional groups ; Grasses ; Heterogeneity ; Legumes ; Nutrients ; Oligochaeta ; Plant communities ; Plant populations ; Planting ; Soil nutrients ; Soils ; Worms
  • Is Part Of: Phyton (Buenos Aires), 2021, Vol.90 (4), p.1259-1271
  • Description: Soil nutrients are commonly heterogeneously distributed and earthworms are one of the most common soil organisms. While effects of both soil nutrient heterogeneity and earthworms have been well studied, their interactive effect on plant community productivity has rarely been tested. In a greenhouse experiment, we constructed experimental plant communities by sowing seed mixtures of four grasses, two legumes and two forbs in either a heterogeneous soil consisting of low and high nutrient soil patches or a homogeneous soil where the low and high nutrient soil patches were evenly mixed. The earthworm Eisenia fetida was either added to these soils or not. Aboveground biomass of the whole communities, grasses and legumes did not differ between the homogeneous and heterogeneous soils or between the soils with and without earthworms. However, soil nutrient heterogeneity reduced aboveground biomass of forbs, and such an effect did not interact with earthworms. In response to soil heterogeneity and earthworms, biomass ratio of the three functional groups showed similar patterns as that of their biomass. At the patch level, aboveground biomass of the whole community, grasses and legumes were greater in the high than in the low nutrient soil patches within the heterogeneous soil. A similar pattern was found for the forbs, but this was only true in the absence of earthworms. Our results suggest that soil nutrient heterogeneity and earthworms may not influence aboveground biomass of plant communities, despite the fact that they may modify the growth of certain plant functional groups within the community.
  • Publisher: Buenos Aires: Tech Science Press
  • Language: English;French;German;Italian;Portuguese;Spanish
  • Identifier: ISSN: 1851-5657
    ISSN: 0031-9457
    EISSN: 1851-5657
    DOI: 10.32604/phyton.2021.014968
  • Source: ProQuest Central
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