Alpine ecology, plant biodiversity and photosynthetic performance of marker plants in a nitrogen gradient induced by Alnus bushes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Alpine alder vegetation acts upon the nearby grass and dwarf shrub vegetation by the nitrogen supply from the symbiotic bacteria Frankia alni of Alnus viridis. This has been studied in two transects concerning plant distribution, plant diversity, nitrate concentration in soil and photosynthetic performance of specific marker plants.

Results

Away from the alder stand, a band of some meters was dominated by Calamagrostis varia which then was followed by alpine dwarf shrub vegetation. Nitrate in the soil showed a concentration decrease away from the alder stand leading to values near the detection limit in the dwarf shrub zone. Within these three zones, plant species were distributed according to their N-index, given in the ecological literature. Three dominant speci

SUBMITTER: Kaltrina R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7171859 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature