Correlating hydrologic reinforcement of vegetated soil with plant traits during establishment of woody perennials

TY - JOUR

T1 - Correlating hydrologic reinforcement of vegetated soil with plant traits during establishment of woody perennials

AU - Boldrin, David

AU - Leung, Anthony

AU - Bengough, Anthony

N1 - The authors acknowledge funding from the EU FP7 Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (CIG) under the project “BioEPIC slope”. The authors thank Hamlyn Jones, Jim McNicol (Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland) and the two anonymous referees for helpful discussions and advice, and Moacir Tuzzin de Moraes for his help during root processing. The James Hutton Institute receives funding from the Scottish Government.

PY - 2017/7

Y1 - 2017/7

N2 - Background and aims: Vegetation stabilizes slopes via root mechanical reinforcement and hydrologic reinforcement induced by transpiration. Most studies have focused on mechanical reinforcement and its correlation with plant biomechanical traits. The correlations however generally ignore the effects of hydrologic reinforcement. This study aims to quantify the hydrologic reinforcement associated with ten woody species and identify correlations with relevant plant traits. Methods: Ten species widespread in Europe, which belong to Aquifoliaceae, Betulaceae, Buxaceae, Celastraceae, Fabaceae, Oleaceae and Salicaceae families, were planted in pots of sandy loam soil. Each planted pot was irrigated and then left to transpire. Soil strength, matric suction and plant traits were measured. Results: Transpiration-induced suction was linearly correlated with soil penetration resistance for the ten species due to their different transpiration rates i.e. both suction and soil penetration resistance induced by Hazel and Blackthorn (deciduous) were five times greater than those by Holly and European Box (evergreens). Specific leaf area and root length density correlated with hydrologic reinforcement. The root:shoot ratio correlated best with the hydrologic reinforcement. Conclusions: Specific leaf area, root length density and root:shoot ratio explained the tenfold differences in hydrologic reinforcement provided by the ten different species.

AB - Background and aims: Vegetation stabilizes slopes via root mechanical reinforcement and hydrologic reinforcement induced by transpiration. Most studies have focused on mechanical reinforcement and its correlation with plant biomechanical traits. The correlations however generally ignore the effects of hydrologic reinforcement. This study aims to quantify the hydrologic reinforcement associated with ten woody species and identify correlations with relevant plant traits. Methods: Ten species widespread in Europe, which belong to Aquifoliaceae, Betulaceae, Buxaceae, Celastraceae, Fabaceae, Oleaceae and Salicaceae families, were planted in pots of sandy loam soil. Each planted pot was irrigated and then left to transpire. Soil strength, matric suction and plant traits were measured. Results: Transpiration-induced suction was linearly correlated with soil penetration resistance for the ten species due to their different transpiration rates i.e. both suction and soil penetration resistance induced by Hazel and Blackthorn (deciduous) were five times greater than those by Holly and European Box (evergreens). Specific leaf area and root length density correlated with hydrologic reinforcement. The root:shoot ratio correlated best with the hydrologic reinforcement. Conclusions: Specific leaf area, root length density and root:shoot ratio explained the tenfold differences in hydrologic reinforcement provided by the ten different species.

KW - Hydrologic reinforcement

KW - Matric suction

KW - Soil bioengineering

KW - Soil strength

KW - Transpiration

U2 - 10.1007/s11104-017-3211-3

DO - 10.1007/s11104-017-3211-3

M3 - Article

SN - 0032-079X

VL - 416

SP - 437

EP - 451

JO - Plant and Soil

JF - Plant and Soil

ER -