Effects of soil nutrient heterogeneity on intraspecific competition in the invasive, clonal plant Alternanthera philoxeroides

Background and Aims

Fine-scale, spatial heterogeneity in soil nutrient availability can increase the growth of individual plants, the productivity of plant communities and interspecific competition. If this is due to the ability of plants to concentrate their roots where nutrient levels are high, then nutrient heterogeneity should have little effect on intraspecific competition, especially when there are no genotypic differences between individuals in root plasticity. We tested this hypothesis in a widespread, clonal species in which individual plants are known to respond to nutrient heterogeneity.

Methods

Plants derived from a single clone of Alternanthera philoxeroides were grown in the greenhouse at low or high density (four or 16 plants per 27·5 × 27·5-cm container) with homogeneous or heterogeneous availability of soil nutrients, keeping total nutrient availability per container constant. After 9 weeks, measurements of size, dry mass and morphology were taken.

Key Results

Plants grew more in the heterogeneous than in the homogeneous treatment, showing that heterogeneity promoted performance; they grew less in the high- than in the low-density treatment, showing that plants competed. There was no interactive effect of nutrient heterogeneity and plant density, supporting the hypothesis that heterogeneity does not affect intraspecific competition in the absence of genotypic differences in plasticity. Treatments did not affect morphological characteristics such as specific leaf area or root/shoot ratio.

Conclusions

Results indicate that fine-scale, spatial heterogeneity in the availability of soil nutrients does not increase competition when plants are genetically identical, consistent with the suggestion that effects of heterogeneity on competition depend upon differences in plasticity between individuals. Heterogeneity is only likely to increase the spread of monoclonal, invasive populations such as that of A. philoxeroides in China.     

空心莲子草根中异常结构及不定芽的发育解剖学研究

运用光镜和扫描电镜的方法 ,观察了空心莲子草根的结构及不定芽的结构 ,结果表明 :根的初生木质部为二原型、三原型和四原型 ;初生结构和早期次生结构正常 ,异常的次生生长是由于次生韧皮部外侧发生的额外形成层所致 ,后一轮额外形成层起源于前一轮向外产生的薄壁细胞 ,结合组织为发达的薄壁细胞 ,二至四轮三生维管束排成整齐的同心环类型 ,不定芽主要起源于异常根的额外形成层 ,芽外有二至三轮鳞片 ,其内着生许多毛状物。     

水花生愈伤组织的诱导及根的分化

在 1/ 2MS培养基上培养出水花生的无菌苗 ,然后将水花生不同器官的外植体接种在不同培养基和添加不同种类激素及其浓度配比的培养基中 ,研究愈伤组织的诱导条件。结果表明 :茎、叶为适宜组培的器官 ,苄基腺嘌呤(BA)、萘乙酸 (NAA)、玉米素 (ZT)、吲哚乙酸 (IAA)的几种配比对水花生茎和叶的愈伤组织诱导均产生良好效应 ,NAA不变 ,随BA浓度上升 ,愈伤组织的诱导率上升。NAA/BA的比值越大越有利于根的分化。     

入侵种喜旱莲子草对光照强度的表型可塑性反应

对外来人侵种喜旱莲子草[Alternanthera philoxeroides（Mart．）Griseb．]在不同强度光照处理中的表型可塑性反应进行了研究。结果表明：在高光照（100％）、中等光照（60．4％）、低光照（35．4％）和弱光照（16．5％）条件下,随光照强度的降低,分枝强度、基株株长、茎节长度随之下降,总生物量及根、茎、叶生物量显著减少;中等光强度处理喜旱莲子草根冠比显著低于其他处理;弱光条件下喜旱莲子草生长迟缓,呈直立状。研究结果表明,光照强度是影响喜旱莲子草种群生存与维持、生长和成功入侵、扩散的重要因子,同时也说明光照强度较低的生态系统喜旱莲子草入侵成功的机会很小。     

Cd2＋污染对水花生生理生化及超微结构的影响

By imitating different concentration Cd^2 polluted water environment, this paper dealt with the changes of some biochemical and physiological characters and the damage of ultrastructure in leaves of Altemanthera philoxe-roides. The result showed that SOD and POD activity first increased in the low concentration pollution and then decreased with the concentration of pollution raised. The content of chlorophyll, chlorophyll a/b value, CAT ac-tivity and the content of soluble protein all declined continually. With the concentration of pollution increased,the ultrastructure of cell nuclei, chloroplast and mitochondria became deformed, the permutation of structure in-side disordered, swelled, membrane disrupted and vesiculated. The changes of some biochemical and physiological characters accorded with the damage of cell ultrastrueture.     

First Report of a Strain of Alternanthera yellow vein virus Infecting Eclipta prostrate (L.) L. (Compositae) in China

In 2005, Eclipta prostrata plants exhibiting yellow vein symptoms were observed in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China. A virus isolate G8 was cloned from a symptomatic plant. The complete nucleotide sequence of G8 DNA-A was determined to be 2745 nucleotides, which had typical characteristics of Begomovirus genome organization. The comparison of complete nucleotide sequence of DNA-A showed that isolate G8 shared the highest sequence identity with Alternanthera yellow vein virus (AlYVV) isolates G38 and Hn51 at 95.9% and 94.3%, respectively. These results show that G8 infecting E. prostrata in Guangdong is a strain of AlYVV.     

喜旱莲子草在中国的入侵和扩散动态及其潜在分布区预测

喜旱莲子草(Alternanthera philoxeroides)是苋科莲子草属的一种多年生草本植物, 原产于南美洲, 19世纪末侵入我国以后, 经过50年左右的停滞期, 在我国中部和南部的广大区域迅速蔓延传播, 已成为我国分布最广、危害最为严重的杂草之一, 目前分布范围仍在扩大。本研究基于大量的标本分布数据, 使用生态位模型(GARP)对其在中国的潜在扩散区域进行了预测。结果表明: 喜旱莲子草抗逆性较强, 坡度、汇流累积量、年均温、年降雨量对其分布影响较大; 而海拔、日照等对其分布影响较小。目前, 喜旱莲子草的潜在入侵区仍大于实际分布区, 因此, 预测该物种还将会继续扩散。容易被入侵的地区包括了除青海、西藏、四川西部、新疆南部、甘肃西部、吉林、黑龙江、内蒙古北部以及海南以外的中国大部分地区, 其中陕西、山西以及甘肃东南部不仅属于最易被入侵的地区, 且邻近地区已被入侵, 因此应采取紧急措施防止喜旱莲子草侵入和扩散。     

喜旱莲子草提取物的杀虫活性

【背景】喜旱莲子草是全球性恶性入侵杂草,近年来在我国已呈蔓延之势,对经济及生态环境造成严重破坏。目前已开展了其入侵机制和生物防治等方面的研究,然而,针对其资源化利用的研究较少。【方法】分别研究了喜旱莲子草的石油醚、氯仿、乙酸乙酯和正丁醇等溶剂提取物对小菜蛾、斜纹夜蛾的选择忌避、触杀和胃毒作用。【结果】喜旱莲子草各有机相提取物对小菜蛾和斜纹夜蛾均具有一定的选择忌避作用。随着处理时间的延长,不同溶剂提取物对小菜蛾和斜纹夜蛾的触杀和胃毒作用效果逐渐增强,且校正死亡率与提取物浓度呈正相关关系;经喜旱莲子草石油醚提取物、乙酸乙酯提取物和正丁醇提取物4000 g·L-1处理后,小菜蛾的触杀校正死亡率均达到70%,经石油醚提取物、乙酸乙酯提取物、正丁醇提取物和水提取物4000 g·L-1及正丁醇层和水层500 g·L-1处理后,斜纹夜蛾的触杀和胃毒校正死亡率均达到80%。【结论与意义】该研究结果对喜旱莲子草的进一步研究开发具有参考价值。     

NaCl处理对空心莲子草营养器官解剖结构的影响

利用光学显微技术,对不同浓度NaCl处理后的空心莲子草的营养器官进行形态解剖学研究。结果表明:不同浓度的NaCl处理下生长的空心莲子草解剖结构与对照相比发生了显著变化,这些变化表现为:随着盐浓度的逐渐增加,叶片面积变小而厚度增加;茎的横向生长受抑制;角质膜进一步增厚;营养器官的通气组织进一步发达,根、茎、叶中的胞间隙或孔隙紧密相连,使植物体上下贯通进行气体交换;根中的木栓细胞层数增加。     

空心莲子草口服治疗乳鼠流行性出血热病毒感染的研究

空心莲子草经口服治疗流行性出血热病毒（ＥＨＦＶ）感染的乳鼠。结果显示,５、７．５、１０．０ｍｇ三个剂量组的存活率各为８０％、７２．２％和４０．０％,平均存活天数（ＭＴＤ）为５６．５±０．９、５３．５±１．１和４１．５±２．７ｄ,而病毒对照组的存活率为０．０％,ＭＴＤ为２６．３±０．８ｄ,经该药治疗的感染鼠体内的ＥＨＦＶ抗原表达减少,而未经治疗的感染乳鼠体内的ＥＨＦＶ抗原则在全病程中都显示出较强的表述。治疗组抗病毒效果类似于病毒唑,且口服病毒唑毒性小。说明空心莲子草在体内对ＥＨＦＶ感染鼠有治疗作用。