The past matters to plants (12/25/2009)
 | | This is the Michigan dry sand prairie. - Nicolás Cabrera-Schneider |
It's commonly known that plants interact with each other on an everyday basis: they shade each other out or take up nutrients from the soil before neighboring plants can get them. Now, researchers at the University of Michigan have learned that plants also respond to the past.
The research appears in the February 2010 issue of the American Naturalist.
Emily Farrer, Deborah Goldberg, and Aaron King modeled four years of population fluctuations in four species common to the Michigan dry sand prairie to determine how plants interacted with each other. They found that plants tended to compete, or negatively affect one another, over the summer, fall, and spring; but interestingly the researchers also found that the more crowded together plants were in one growing season, the more their growth was enhanced the following year.
"For example, if a species had a large, dense population a year ago, this would promote current population growth, even though the plants are currently competing," said Farrer, a graduate student in the U-M Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.
These time-lagged interactions may be due to effects from plant litter, Farrer said. After plants die back over the winter, the dead plant material starts to decompose, releasing nutrients that encourage plant growth. The litter layer also holds in soil moisture, a boon to plants struggling to survive in the dry environment.
The positive effect also may be due to the fact that the plants are perennial and can bank resources in below-ground roots and rhizomes until the following year, when they can be drawn upon to boost growth.
"Scientists had thought that lagged interactions do not occur in plants, but with the use of detailed population censuses and complex mathematical models, we showed that they do occur, can be measured, and can have significant impacts on plant population growth," Farrer said. "Finding such interactions in this study raises the possibility that they may be more widespread in plants than previously thought."
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the University of Michigan
Post Comments:
| 
Subscribe
New species of ancient crocodile discovered
Kitchen gadget inspires scientist to make more effective plastic electronics
Making memories last
Ferroelectric switching discovered for first time in soft biological tissue
Forensic research extends detection of cyanide poisoning
Shakespeare's skill 'more in grammar than in words'
Detailed picture of how myoV 'walks' along actin tracks
Need muscle for a tough spot? Turn to fat stem cells
Earth's energy budget remained out of balance despite unusually low solar activity
The wild early lives of today's most massive galaxies
What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?
Pictures of food create feelings of hunger
Mighty mesh
Patterns of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in Galapagos reptiles
Bilayer graphene works as an insulator
How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel
Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?
Advantages of living in the dark: The multiple evolution events of 'blind' cavefish
Snakes improve search-and-rescue robots
Enhancing cognition in older adults also changes personality
Magnetic actuation enables nanoscale thermal analysis
A new artificial intelligence technique to speed the planning of tasks when resources are limited
'Tiger mothers' should tame parenting approach
Film coatings made from whey
Growing US violent extremism by the numbers
If a fat tax is coming, here's how to make it efficient, effective
Bobsled runs -- fast and yet safe
Fruit fly intestine may hold secret to the fountain of youth
Livestock, not Mongolian gazelles, drive foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks
Overgrazed grasslands tied to locust outbreaks
Sweeten up your profits with the right hybrid
Science to help rice growers affected by Japan's tsunami
Findings prove Miscanthus x giganteus has great potential as an alternative energy source
Researching the use of vegetable by-products for animal feed
Good parents are predictable -- at least when it comes to corn