Subjects: Geosciences >> Geography submitted time 2024-03-01 Cooperative journals: 《干旱区研究》
Abstract： Exploring the response of leaf and root morphological characteristics of desert plants to drought stress is helpful in understanding and predicting their growth regulation strategies under the climate change scenario. The seedlings of the typical desert plant Caroxylon passerinum were treated with slow and rapid drought, and the morphological indices of leaves and roots were measured. The morphological characteristics of leaves and roots of C. passerinum seedlings under drought stress were analyzed using slow and fast drought treatments. The results showed that: (1) with an extension in slow drought stress treatment time, thick- root diameter, fine- root specific length, and specific root area decreased; the leaf tissue density under rapid drought treatment increased; after slow drought treatment, the thick-root tissue density increased, while it increased at first and then decreased post- rapid drought treatment. (2) At the end of the growth period of 54 days, the thick- root diameter reduced markedly under the two treatments; the succulent degree and water content were significantly lower under rapid drought than those of the control and slow drought treatments, respectively. The thick- root tissue density of C. passerinum seedlings increased significantly after 37 days of stress, which was higher post- slow than fast drought. (3) The first four axes of principal components were mainly affected by coarse-root specific root length, thick-root tissue density, fine-root specific root length, and specific leaf area. Correlation analysis revealed that 29 pairs of characters were interrelated. In summary, the leaves, thick roots, and fine roots of C. passerinum showed varying adaptation strategies especially by reducing the diameter of thick roots under the two types of drought treatment. Under rapid drought, C. passerinum adapted to soil water deficit by enhancing the leaf tissue density and reducing fine-root specific root length and specific root area. Thus, C. passerinum seedlings adapt to drought through a coordination or tradeoff within and between leaf and root traits.
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