Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2016, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (3): 343-352.DOI: 10.11983/CBB15103

• EXPERIMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Fine Root Biomass and Morphological Characteristics in Three Different Artificial Forest Communities in Newly Reclaimed Saline Soil

Hong Jiang1, 2 , Yingying Bai1, Yingfu Rao3, Chong Chen3, Yongli Cai1*   

  1. 1Shanghai Key Laboratory Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, School of Geographic Sciences, Faculty of Earth Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241
    2School of Ecological Engineering, Guizhou University of Engineering Science, Bijie 551700
    3Shanghai Harbour City Ecology Garden Co., LTD, Shanghai 201306, China
  • Received:2015-06-14 Accepted:2015-09-21 Online:2016-05-01 Published:2016-05-24
  • Contact: Cai Yongli
  • About author:

    ? These authors contributed equally to this paper

Abstract: Fine root is the main organ of plants absorbing water and nutrients. Fine root biomass is important for restoring saline soil. We considered 3 plant communities along a saline reclamation riparian zone in the Lingang district of Shanghai and studied the variation in fine-root biomass, vertical distribution and morphological indicators of fine roots in salinity. The mean fine-root biomass in 3 communities (Populus adenopoda, Cinnamomum japonicum and Taxodium distichum forest) in the 0 to 40 cm soil layer were 1 699.75, 498.50 and 520.06 g·m-2, respectively. In the 3 forests, fine-root biomass was significantly affected by soil depth, and fine roots at the 0 to 10 cm soil layer accounted for more than 50% of the total fine-root biomass; with increasing soil layer, the fine-root biomass index decreased (P<0.05). The fine-root biomass of different communities showed existential bimodal changes in the growing season, with significant difference between months. The biomass and length of living fine roots were all decreased in the order of P. adenopoda> T. distichum>C. japonicum forest. We found a significant relation between soil moisture content and living fine-root biomass and density (P<0.01). CCA analysis showed that soil moisture content was the main limiting factor of change in various vertical indexes of live fine roots, and high salt may have an adverse effect on fine-root biomass and distribution.