Effects of interaction between plant individuals on competition for soil nitrogen

• Project/Area Number: 17K19370
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biology of Cells to Organisms, and related fields
• Research Institution: Japan Women's University
• Principal Investigator: Ueda Miki 日本女子大学, 理学部, 講師 (70570315)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2019-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
• Budget Amount: ¥6,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,500,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥2,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥600,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000)
• Keywords: 窒素 / リン / 競争 / 相互作用 / 土壌 / 窒素獲得 / 植物間相互作用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To understand the effects of plant interaction on the competition for soil nutrients, a competition experiment using Plantago asiatica from different populations were conducted. To prevent home advantages of soil to each P. asiatica population, soil were collected in different place from where each populations were collected. As soil nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics were measured. As results, plant interaction significantly affected the competition for soil nitrogen and phosphorous both between plant individuals and between plants and soil microbes. In addition, the effects of plant interaction were different between nitrogen and phosphorous dynamics.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

土壌養分の獲得、特に本研究で着目した窒素およびリンの獲得は、多くの陸上生態系において植物の生産の律速する重要な要因である。このため、植物間や植物－土壌微生物間の土壌養分を巡る競争については多数の研究が行われてきた。しかし、植物間の相互作用の競争への影響に関する研究はこの10年で飛躍的に伸びた分野であり、植物－微生物間の養分を巡る競争への影響は研究されていなかった。本研究から、土壌養分を巡る競争への影響の存在が明らかとなった。また、その影響の様式が窒素とリンという養分間で異なったことは、植物の養分利用戦略を知る上で重要であるだけでなく、陸上生態系の生産を律速する要因の理解にもつながるものである。