Percent light penetration and maximum plant height: Traits: Competition and Resource Reduction for Five Grass Species Grown in Monoculture and Competition in Soils with Different Nitrogen Availabilities

This experiment was designed to determine the relationships between plant traits, successional status, and resource reduction for five grass species that were grown for three years in monoculture in replicated field plots on soils prepared to have different availabilities of nitrogen. It also determines the results of competition experiments among various combinations of these species as well as the differing feedback effects of each species on soil nitrogen mineralization rates. All of this work has motivated the desire to more fully understand the mechanisms of interactions among plants and their resources, in the belief that this might eventually allow predictions of the dynamics, diversity, and composition of plant communities.

本实验旨在明确5种草本植物的功能性状、演替状态（successional status）与资源缩减之间的关联。供试物种在配置有不同氮可利用性的土壤中，于重复设置的田间样地内以单作（monoculture）模式种植三年。本实验同时还测定了这些物种不同组合下的竞争试验结果，以及各物种对土壤氮矿化速率（nitrogen mineralization rates）的差异化反馈效应。上述所有实验内容均激发了我们全面解析植物与其资源间互作机制的研究意愿，我们相信此类研究最终可实现对植物群落动态、多样性与组成的预测。