Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Belowground Resource Exploitation In Semiarid Plants: A Comparative Study Using Two Tussock Grasses That Differ In Competitive Ability, David M. Eissenstat

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relative competitive abilities of Agropyron desertorum and Agropyron spicatum were compared using Artemisia tridentata transplants as indicator plants. Although these two tussock grasses have similar shoot growth forms and shoot physiological characteristics, they have substantial differences in their competitive abilities. Artemisia had lower survival, growth, reproduction, and water potential when transplanted into neighborhoods of A. desertorum than in neighborhoods of A. spicatum.

Plant attributes associated with the differences in competitive ability were explored. Agropyron desertorum and A. spicatum have remarkably similar potential growth rates at warm soil temperatures. In a prolonged cold soil temperature treatment in the greenhouse, …