TY - JOUR

T1 - Neighbourhood stories

T2 - role of neighbour identity, spatial location and order of arrival in legume and non-legume initial interactions

AU - Weidlich, Emanuela W.A.

AU - Temperton, Victoria Martine

AU - Faget, Marc

PY - 2018/3/1

Y1 - 2018/3/1

N2 - Backgrounds and aims: Interactions between plants can be both positive and negative, denoting facilitation and competition. Although facilitative effects of having legume neighbours (focus on yield productivity) are well studied, a better mechanistic understanding of how legumes interact with non-legumes in terms of root distribution is needed. We tested the effects of neighbour identity, its spatial location, as well as the effects of plant order of arrival on above and belowground traits and root distribution. Methods: We performed a rhizotron experiment (4 weeks duration) in which we grew maize alone, with only a legume, only another grass, or with both species and tracked roots of the plant species using green and red fluorescent markers. Results: Maize grew differently when it had a neighbour, with reduced development when growing with wheat compared to alone. Growing with a legume generally equated to the same outcome as not having a neighbour. Roots grew towards the legume species and away from the wheat. Order of arrival affected aboveground traits to a certain extent, but its effects on maize roots were dependent on spatial location. Conclusions: Our study provides evidence of facilitation, showing the importance of the identity of the neighbours, together with their spatial location, and how order of arrival can modulate the outcome of these initial interactions.

AB - Backgrounds and aims: Interactions between plants can be both positive and negative, denoting facilitation and competition. Although facilitative effects of having legume neighbours (focus on yield productivity) are well studied, a better mechanistic understanding of how legumes interact with non-legumes in terms of root distribution is needed. We tested the effects of neighbour identity, its spatial location, as well as the effects of plant order of arrival on above and belowground traits and root distribution. Methods: We performed a rhizotron experiment (4 weeks duration) in which we grew maize alone, with only a legume, only another grass, or with both species and tracked roots of the plant species using green and red fluorescent markers. Results: Maize grew differently when it had a neighbour, with reduced development when growing with wheat compared to alone. Growing with a legume generally equated to the same outcome as not having a neighbour. Roots grew towards the legume species and away from the wheat. Order of arrival affected aboveground traits to a certain extent, but its effects on maize roots were dependent on spatial location. Conclusions: Our study provides evidence of facilitation, showing the importance of the identity of the neighbours, together with their spatial location, and how order of arrival can modulate the outcome of these initial interactions.

KW - Competition

KW - Green fluorescent protein (GFP)

KW - Legumes

KW - Nitrogen facilitation

KW - Plant-plant interactions

KW - Priority effect

KW - Rhizotrons

KW - Roots

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028971450&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11104-017-3398-3

DO - 10.1007/s11104-017-3398-3

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85028971450

VL - 424

SP - 171

EP - 182

JO - Plant and Soil

JF - Plant and Soil

SN - 0032-079X

IS - 1-2

ER -