Cargando…

Groundwater Depths Affect Phosphorus and Potassium Resorption but Not Their Utilization in a Desert Phreatophyte in Its Hyper-Arid Environment

Nutrients are vital for plant subsistence and growth in nutrient-poor and arid ecosystems. The deep roots of phreatophytic plants are necessary to access groundwater, which is the major source of nutrients for phreatophytes in an arid desert ecosystem. However, the mechanisms through which changes i...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zhang, Bo, Tang, Gangliang, Yin, Hui, Zhao, Shenglong, Shareef, Muhammad, Liu, Bo, Gao, Xiaopeng, Zeng, Fanjiang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8216241/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34163505
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.665168
_version_ 1783710377394044928
author Zhang, Bo
Tang, Gangliang
Yin, Hui
Zhao, Shenglong
Shareef, Muhammad
Liu, Bo
Gao, Xiaopeng
Zeng, Fanjiang
author_facet Zhang, Bo
Tang, Gangliang
Yin, Hui
Zhao, Shenglong
Shareef, Muhammad
Liu, Bo
Gao, Xiaopeng
Zeng, Fanjiang
author_sort Zhang, Bo
collection PubMed
description Nutrients are vital for plant subsistence and growth in nutrient-poor and arid ecosystems. The deep roots of phreatophytic plants are necessary to access groundwater, which is the major source of nutrients for phreatophytes in an arid desert ecosystem. However, the mechanisms through which changes in groundwater depth affect nutrient cycles of phreatophytic plants are still poorly understood. This study was performed to reveal the adaptive strategies involving the nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and nutrient resorption efficiency (NRE) of desert phreatophytes as affected by different groundwater depths. This work investigated the nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) concentrations in leaf, stem, and assimilating branch, as well as the NUE and NRE of the phreatophytic Alhagi sparsifolia. The plant was grown at groundwater depths of 2.5, 4.5, and 11.0 m during 2015 and 2016 in a desert-oasis transition ecotone at the southern rim of the Taklimakan Desert in northwestern China. Results show that the leaf, stem, and assimilating branch P concentrations of A. sparsifolia at 4.5 m groundwater depth were significantly lower than those at 2.5 and 11.0 m groundwater depths. The K concentrations in different tissues of A. sparsifolia at 4.5 m groundwater depth were significantly higher than those at 2.5 and 11.0 m groundwater depths. Conversely, the NRE of P in A. sparsifolia was the highest among the three groundwater depths, while that of K in A. sparsifolia was the lowest among the three groundwater depths in 2015 and 2016. The N concentration and NUE of N, P, and K in A. sparsifolia, however, were not influenced by groundwater depth. Further analyses using structural equation models showed that groundwater depth had significant effects on the P and K resorption of A. sparsifolia by changing soil P and senescent leaf K concentrations. Overall, our results suggest groundwater depths affect P and K concentrations and resorption but not their utilization in a desert phreatophyte in its hyper-arid environment. This study provides a new insight into the phreatophytic plant nutrient cycle strategy under a changing external environment in a hyper-arid ecosystem.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8216241
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82162412021-06-22 Groundwater Depths Affect Phosphorus and Potassium Resorption but Not Their Utilization in a Desert Phreatophyte in Its Hyper-Arid Environment Zhang, Bo Tang, Gangliang Yin, Hui Zhao, Shenglong Shareef, Muhammad Liu, Bo Gao, Xiaopeng Zeng, Fanjiang Front Plant Sci Plant Science Nutrients are vital for plant subsistence and growth in nutrient-poor and arid ecosystems. The deep roots of phreatophytic plants are necessary to access groundwater, which is the major source of nutrients for phreatophytes in an arid desert ecosystem. However, the mechanisms through which changes in groundwater depth affect nutrient cycles of phreatophytic plants are still poorly understood. This study was performed to reveal the adaptive strategies involving the nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and nutrient resorption efficiency (NRE) of desert phreatophytes as affected by different groundwater depths. This work investigated the nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) concentrations in leaf, stem, and assimilating branch, as well as the NUE and NRE of the phreatophytic Alhagi sparsifolia. The plant was grown at groundwater depths of 2.5, 4.5, and 11.0 m during 2015 and 2016 in a desert-oasis transition ecotone at the southern rim of the Taklimakan Desert in northwestern China. Results show that the leaf, stem, and assimilating branch P concentrations of A. sparsifolia at 4.5 m groundwater depth were significantly lower than those at 2.5 and 11.0 m groundwater depths. The K concentrations in different tissues of A. sparsifolia at 4.5 m groundwater depth were significantly higher than those at 2.5 and 11.0 m groundwater depths. Conversely, the NRE of P in A. sparsifolia was the highest among the three groundwater depths, while that of K in A. sparsifolia was the lowest among the three groundwater depths in 2015 and 2016. The N concentration and NUE of N, P, and K in A. sparsifolia, however, were not influenced by groundwater depth. Further analyses using structural equation models showed that groundwater depth had significant effects on the P and K resorption of A. sparsifolia by changing soil P and senescent leaf K concentrations. Overall, our results suggest groundwater depths affect P and K concentrations and resorption but not their utilization in a desert phreatophyte in its hyper-arid environment. This study provides a new insight into the phreatophytic plant nutrient cycle strategy under a changing external environment in a hyper-arid ecosystem. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-07 /pmc/articles/PMC8216241/ /pubmed/34163505 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.665168 Text en Copyright © 2021 Zhang, Tang, Yin, Zhao, Shareef, Liu, Gao and Zeng. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Zhang, Bo
Tang, Gangliang
Yin, Hui
Zhao, Shenglong
Shareef, Muhammad
Liu, Bo
Gao, Xiaopeng
Zeng, Fanjiang
Groundwater Depths Affect Phosphorus and Potassium Resorption but Not Their Utilization in a Desert Phreatophyte in Its Hyper-Arid Environment
title Groundwater Depths Affect Phosphorus and Potassium Resorption but Not Their Utilization in a Desert Phreatophyte in Its Hyper-Arid Environment
title_full Groundwater Depths Affect Phosphorus and Potassium Resorption but Not Their Utilization in a Desert Phreatophyte in Its Hyper-Arid Environment
title_fullStr Groundwater Depths Affect Phosphorus and Potassium Resorption but Not Their Utilization in a Desert Phreatophyte in Its Hyper-Arid Environment
title_full_unstemmed Groundwater Depths Affect Phosphorus and Potassium Resorption but Not Their Utilization in a Desert Phreatophyte in Its Hyper-Arid Environment
title_short Groundwater Depths Affect Phosphorus and Potassium Resorption but Not Their Utilization in a Desert Phreatophyte in Its Hyper-Arid Environment
title_sort groundwater depths affect phosphorus and potassium resorption but not their utilization in a desert phreatophyte in its hyper-arid environment
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8216241/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34163505
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.665168
work_keys_str_mv AT zhangbo groundwaterdepthsaffectphosphorusandpotassiumresorptionbutnottheirutilizationinadesertphreatophyteinitshyperaridenvironment
AT tanggangliang groundwaterdepthsaffectphosphorusandpotassiumresorptionbutnottheirutilizationinadesertphreatophyteinitshyperaridenvironment
AT yinhui groundwaterdepthsaffectphosphorusandpotassiumresorptionbutnottheirutilizationinadesertphreatophyteinitshyperaridenvironment
AT zhaoshenglong groundwaterdepthsaffectphosphorusandpotassiumresorptionbutnottheirutilizationinadesertphreatophyteinitshyperaridenvironment
AT shareefmuhammad groundwaterdepthsaffectphosphorusandpotassiumresorptionbutnottheirutilizationinadesertphreatophyteinitshyperaridenvironment
AT liubo groundwaterdepthsaffectphosphorusandpotassiumresorptionbutnottheirutilizationinadesertphreatophyteinitshyperaridenvironment
AT gaoxiaopeng groundwaterdepthsaffectphosphorusandpotassiumresorptionbutnottheirutilizationinadesertphreatophyteinitshyperaridenvironment
AT zengfanjiang groundwaterdepthsaffectphosphorusandpotassiumresorptionbutnottheirutilizationinadesertphreatophyteinitshyperaridenvironment