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   Location:Home > Research > Research Progress
Ficus species show great variation in soil nutrient associated compensatory regrowth
Author: Zhao Jin
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Update time: 2012-09-18
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F. hispida, F. racemosa and F. auriculata are three Ficus species commonly distributed along rainforest edges or beside roads. Previous findings suggest that these Ficus species receive significantly different levels of damage from herbivorous insects both in the field and in glasshouse experiment, and show interspecific variation in morphological and chemical defense.

Dr. Zhao Jin and her supervisor Prof. Chen Jin of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) conducted a study to understand how soil nutrients determine the degree of compensatory regrowth for different plant species. They selected spalings of three Ficus species (F. hispida, F. racemosa and F. auriculata) and treated with herbivore insects and artificial injury in both glasshouse conditions and in the field at two soil nutrient levels. They aimed to examine whether the three Ficus species show a general pattern in compensatory regrowth (a common tolerance strategy in plants in response to herbivore damage) against herbivores under different levels of resource availability.

Their study found that the three Ficus species showed great variation in soil nutrient associated compensatory regrowth. Under fertile soil conditions, overcompensatory regrowth in F. hispida was observed. Under fertile soil conditions, F. hispida displayed full compensatory regrowth. In F. auriculata, overcompensatory regrowth only occurred under infertile soil conditions, full compensatory regrowth were shown under fertile soil conditions. Meanwhile, F. racemosa was less sensitive to the soil nutrient treatment and did not show significant overcompensatory regrowth under either soil nutrient condition. Both introduced insect herbivores and artificial damage had a significant effect on compensatory regrowth in any of the three Ficus species.

The study demonstrated that the compensatory regrowth, as a response to herbivory in saplings, and the effect of nutrient levels on such regrowth, varied across different species of the same genus, which is consistent with other studies.

The study entitled “Interspecific Variation in Compensatory Regrowth to Herbivory Associated with Soil Nutrients in Three Ficus (Moraceae) Saplings” has been published in PLoS ONE 7(9): e45092. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045092

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Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China
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