Skip Navigation


AOBPreview originally published online on May 10, 2006
Annals of Botany 2006 98(1):203-211; doi:10.1093/aob/mcl088
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
98/1/203    most recent
mcl088v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by FANG, X.
Right arrow Articles by WANG, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by FANG, X.
Right arrow Articles by WANG, G.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by FANG, X.
Right arrow Articles by WANG, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Responses of Caragana korshinskii to Different Aboveground Shoot Removal: Combining Defence and Tolerance Strategies

XIANGWEN FANG1, XIANZHI WANG2, HONG LI1, KANG CHEN1 and GANG WANG1,*

1 Key Laboratory of Arid and Grassland Agroecology at Lanzhou University, Ministry of Education, Lanzhou 730000, China and 2 College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China

* For correspondence. E-mail wangg{at}lzu.edu.cn

Received: 22 December 2005    Returned for revision: 1 February 2006    Accepted: 23 February 2006    Published electronically: 10 May 2006

• Background and Aims It is generally assumed that plants respond to natural enemies by either allocating resources to resistance traits or compensating for damage. This study evaluated how different methods of artificial shoot removal influence two alternative strategies (i.e. tolerance and defence) of Caragana korshinskii in the semi-arid area of China.

• Methods Zero per cent (control), 30 % (30 %) and 60 % (60 %) of the main shoot length and 25 % (25 %), 50 % (50 %) and 100 % (100 %) of the numbers of main shoots were removed from shrubs.

• Key Results Moderate clipping treatments [30 % removal of partial shoot length (RSL), 25 % removal of shoot number (RSN) and 50 % RSN] improved seed production, whereas the most intensive clipping treatments (60 % RSL and 100 % RSN) with most or total removal of potential flower buds reduced current reproduction fitness compared with controls. All treatments produced a similar leaf phenolic content, with the exception of 100 % RSN which resulted in a low leaf phenolic content. In spite of a substantial investment in regrowth, clipped plants increased biomass allocation to physical defence. Control plants almost did not grow, had lower levels of physical defence and a lower photosynthetic rate, mobilized fewer carbohydrates from roots and produced more flowers. However, their current fitness was lower than that of plants undergoing clipping treatments (30 % RSL, 25 % RSN and 50 % RSN) because of the high level of abortion of flowers and fruits.

• Conclusions Caragana korshinskii responded to aboveground shoot removal through combining defence and tolerance strategies.

Key words: Clipping, damage response, defence, Fabaceae, resource allocation, seed number, sprouting shrub, tolerance


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.