ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Functional Plant Ecology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1627304
Soil and plant communities co-regulating plant biomass allocation patterns along a saline-alkali gradient, case study of Allium ramosum in Songnen Grassland, Northeast China
Provisionally accepted
- 1Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China
- 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, beijing, China
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Aims: Plants have developed sophisticated mechanisms to adapt to changing environments. The strategies for biomass allocation is critical for plant to ensure fitness. Increasing soil salinity has a dramatic impact on plant growth and reproduction from the individual to community level. However, our understanding of how plants adapt their biomass allocation strategies to changes in soil salinity and community structure is incomplete. Methods: We investigated 122 individuals of perennial herb Allium ramosum from 70 plots along a soil gradient in Songnen grassland. Field investigations determined the physicochemical properties of the soil, aboveground biomass, richness and individual and each organ (root, stem, leaf, flower, and bulb) biomass of A. ramosum. Results: The results showed that plant community aboveground biomass and community-weighted height decreased as soil salinity increased. A. ramosum individual size decreased, the allometric exponents between reproductive organs (flowers) and storage organs (bulbs) also decreased, with more biomass allocated to flowers. However, this trend was indirectly influenced by salinization through a reduction in community weighted height (reducing light competition) and community aboveground biomass (altering competitive pressure for resources), rather than a direct response to soil salinity. Conclusions: This study highlights the complex interplay between community structure and individual plant adaptation strategies in response to environmental gradients, emphasizing the role of community-scale processes in regulating individual resource allocation.
Keywords: Life history strategies, biomass allocation, allometric, Soil salinity, Perennial herbs
Received: 13 May 2025; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fu, fan, Fan, Wang, Wang, Qiang, Yu and Huang. 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) or licensor 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.
* Correspondence: Yingxin Huang, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China
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