Do plants modulate biomass allocation in response to petroleum pollution?
Biomass allocation is an important plant trait that responds plastically to environmental heterogeneities. However, the effects on this trait of pollutants owing to human activities remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the response of biomass allocation of Phragmites australis to petroleum pollution by a ¹³CO₂ pulse-labelling technique. Our data show that plant biomass significantly decreased under petroleum pollution, but the root-shoot ratio for both plant biomass and ¹³C increased with increasing petroleum concentration, suggesting that plants could increase biomass allocation to roots in petroleum-polluted soil. Furthermore, assimilated ¹³C was found to be significantly higher in soil, microbial biomass and soil respiration after soils were polluted by petroleum. These results suggested that the carbon released from roots is rapidly turned over by soil microbes under petroleum pollution. This study found that plants can modulate biomass allocation in response to petroleum pollution.
Nie
Ming
M
Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Yang
Qiang
Q
Jiang
Li-Fen
LF
Fang
Chang-Ming
CM
Chen
Jia-Kuan
JK
Li
Bo
B
D018533:Biomass; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D006801:Humans; D010578:Petroleum / Q000633:toxicity*; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000187:drug effects; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D006109:Poaceae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*
D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D010578:Petroleum; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002245:Carbon Dioxide