title: Do plants modulate biomass allocation in response to petroleum pollution?
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Li-Fen
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Chang-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Jia-Kuan
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D010578:Petroleum; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002245:Carbon Dioxide