Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Root responses and nitrogen acquisition by Artemisia tridentata and Agropyron desertorum following small summer rainfall events

  • Ecophysiology
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Resources in the Great Basin of western North America often occur in pulses, and plant species must rapidly respond to temporary increases in water and nutrients during the growing season. A field study was conducted to evaluate belowground responses of Artemisia tridentata and Agropyron desertorum, common Great Basin shrub and grass species, respectively, to simulated 5-mm (typical summer rain) and 15-mm (large summer rain) summer rainfall events. The simulated rainfall was labeled with K15NO3 so that timing of plant nitrogen uptake could be monitored. In addition, soil NH4 + and NO3 − concentrations and physiological uptake capacities for NO3 − and NH4 + were determined before and after the rainfall events. Root growth in the top 15 cm of soil was monitored using a minirhizotron system. Surprisingly, there was no difference in the amount of labeled N acquired in response to the two rainfall amounts by either species during the 7-day sample period. However, there were differences between species in the timing of labeled N uptake. The N label was detected in aboveground tissue of Agropyron within 1 h of the simulated rainfall events, but not until 24 h after the rainfall in Artemisia. For both Agropyron and Artemisia, root uptake capacity was similarly affected by the 5-mm and 15-mm rainfall. There was, however, a greater increase in uptake capacity for NH4 + than for NO3 –, and the 15-mm event resulted in a longer response. No root growth occurred in either species in response to either rainfall event during this 8-day period. The results of this study indicate that these species are capable of utilizing nitrogen pulses following even small summer rainfall events during the most stressful period of the summer and further emphasize the importance of small precipitation events in arid systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen MF, Richards JH, Busso CA (1989) Influence of clipping and soils status on vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae of two semi-arid tussock grasses. Biol Fertil Soils 8:289–295

    Google Scholar 

  • BassiriRad H, Caldwell MM (1992a) Temporal changes in root growth and N-15 uptake and water relations of 2 tussock grass species recovering from water stress. Physiol Plant 86:525–531

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BassiriRad H, Caldwell MM (1992b) Root growth, osmotic adjustment and NO3¯ uptake during and after a period of drought in Artemisia tridentata. Aust J Plant Physiol 19:493–500

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • BassiriRad H, Tremmel DC, Virginia A, Reynolds JF, de Soyza AG (1999) Short-term patterns in water and nitrogen acquisition by two desert shrubs following a simulated summer rain. Plant Ecol 145:27–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birch HF (1960) Nitrification in soils after different periods of dryness. Plant Soil 12:81–96

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom AJ, Caldwell RM (1988) Root excision decreases nutrient absorption and assimilation by barley. Plant Physiol 99:1294–1301

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady DJ, Wenzel CL, Fillery IRP, Gregory PJ (1995) Root growth and nitrate uptake by wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) following wetting of dry surface soil. J Exp Bot 46:557–564

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Caldwell MM, Dawson TE, Richards JH (1998) Hydraulic lift: consequences of water efflux from the roots of plants. Oecologia 113:151–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cody RP, Smith JK (1991) Applied statistics and the SAS programming language, 3rd edn. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

  • Cui M, Caldwell MM (1997) A large ephemeral release of nitrogen upon wetting a dry soil and corresponding root responses in the field. Plant Soil 191:291–299

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson EA, Matson PA, Vitousek PM, Riley R, Dunkin K, Garcia-Mendez G, Maass JM (1993) Processes regulating soil emissions of NO and N2O in a seasonally dry tropical forest. Ecology 74:130–139

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher FM, Zak JC, Cunningham GL, Whitford WG (1987) Water and nitrogen effects on growth and allocation patterns of creosote bush in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. J Range Manage 41:387–391

    Google Scholar 

  • Gebauer RLE, Ehleringer JR (2000) Water and nitrogen uptake patterns following moisture pulses in a cold desert community. Ecology 81:1415–1424

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg D, Novoplansky A (1997) On the relative importance of competition in unproductive environments. J Ecol 85:409–418

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutierrez JR, Whitford WG (1987) Chihuahuan desert annuals: importance of water and nitrogen. Ecology 68:2032–2045

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt ER Jr, Zakir NJD, Nobel PS (1987) Water cost and water revenues for established and rain-induced roots of Agave deserti. Funct Ecol 1:125–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson LE, Schimel JP, Firestone MK (1989) Short-term partitioning of ammonium and nitrate between plants and microbes in an annual grassland. Soil Biol Biochem 21:409–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson RB, Manwaring JH, Caldwell MM (1990) Rapid physiological adjustment of roots to localized soil enrichment. Nature 344:58–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Jasper DA, Abbott LK, Robson AD (1993) The survival of infective hyphae of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in dry soil: an interaction with sporulation. New Phytol 124:473–479

    Google Scholar 

  • Johanson A, Jakobsen I, Jensen ES (1993) External hyphae of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with Trifolium subterraneum L, 3. Hyphal transport of 32P and 15N. New Phytol 124:61–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Laurenroth WK, Sala OE, Milchunas DG, Lathrop RW (1987) Root dynamics of Bouteloua gracilis during short-term recovery from drought. Funct Ecol 1:117–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulvaney RL (1996) Nitrogen-inorganic forms. In: Sparks RL (ed) Methods of soil analysis, part 3. Chemical methods. ASA-SSSA, Madison, Wis., pp 1123–1200

  • Nobel PS, Sanderson J (1984) Rectifier-like activities of roots of two desert succulents. J Exp Bot 35:727–737

    Google Scholar 

  • North GB, Nobel PS (1997) Root-soil contact for the desert succulent Agave deserti in wet and drying soil. New Phytol 135:21–29

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Noy-Meir I (1973) Desert ecosystems, environment and producers. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 4:25–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Nye PH, Tinker PB (1977) Solute movement in the soil-root system. University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif.

  • Paul EA, Clark FE (1989) Soil microbiology and biochemistry. Academic, San Diego, Calif.

  • Reid CPP (1974) Assimilation, distribution, and root exudation of 14C by ponderosa pine seedlings under induced water stress. Plant Physiol 54:44–49

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rundel PW, Jarrell WM (1989) Water in the environment. In: Pearcy RW, Ehleringer J, Mooney HA, Rundel PW (eds) Plant physiological ecology. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 29–56

  • Ryel RJ, Caldwell MM (1998) Nutrient acquisition from soils with patchy nutrient distributions as assessed with simulation models. Ecology 79:2735–2744

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryel RJ, Caldwell MM, Yoder CK, Or D, Leffler AJ (2002) Hydraulic redistribution in a stand of Artemisia tridentata: evaluation of benefits to transpiration assessed with a simulation model. Oecologia 130:173–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Sala OE, Lauenroth WK (1982) Small rainfall events: an ecological role in semiarid regions. Oecologia 53:301–304

    Google Scholar 

  • Sala OE, Lauenroth WK, Parton WJ (1982) Plant recovery following prolonged drought in a shortgrass steppe. Agric Meteorol 27:49–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1994) Biometry, 3rd edn. Freeman, San Francisco

  • Van Genuchten MT (1980) A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. J Soil Sci Soc Am 44:892–898

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Gosz JR, Grier CC, Melillo JM, Reiners WA (1982) A comparative analysis of potential nitrification and nitrate mobility in forest ecosystems. Ecol Monogr 52:155–177

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • West NE (1991) Nutrient cycling in soils of semi arid and arid regions. In: Skujins J (ed) Semi-arid lands and deserts: soil resource and reclamation. Dekker, New York, pp 295–332

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson SD, Tilman D (1991) Components of plant competition along an experimental gradient of nitrogen. Ecology 72:1050–1065

    Google Scholar 

  • Witkamp M (1969) Environmental effects on microbial turnover of some mineral elements. Soil Biol Biochem 1:167–184

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank A. Mull, P. Squires, and M. Ercanbrack for assistance in the field and D. Johnson for allowing us to utilize his land for this project. Stable isotope analyses were performed in the laboratory of M. Firestone at UC Berkeley. We also thank several anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on previous versions of this manuscript. This project was funded with a grant from the National Science Foundation (DEB 9807097) and the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest, Range, and Wildlife Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-5230, USA

    Carolyn Y. Ivans, A. Joshua Leffler, Ronald J. Ryel & Martyn M. Caldwell

  2. The Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-5205, USA

    Carolyn Y. Ivans, A. Joshua Leffler, Ronald J. Ryel & Martyn M. Caldwell

  3. Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-5305, USA

    Usha Spaulding & John M. Stark

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 40475-3102, USA

    Carolyn Y. Ivans

Authors
  1. Carolyn Y. Ivans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Joshua Leffler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Usha Spaulding
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. John M. Stark
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ronald J. Ryel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Martyn M. Caldwell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Joshua Leffler.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ivans, C.Y., Leffler, A.J., Spaulding, U. et al. Root responses and nitrogen acquisition by Artemisia tridentata and Agropyron desertorum following small summer rainfall events. Oecologia 134, 317–324 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-002-1089-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-002-1089-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation