Picea mongolica is an endemic but endangered species in China. The spruce forest is only found in sandy forest-steppe ecotones. In this study, we examined the initial response of the quantity and refilling process of fine roots in an artificial canopy gap with a diameter of 36 m in a P. mongolica forest. Under the canopy, the fine root length densities of trees, shrubs and herbs were 2,622, 864 and 3,086 m·m–2, respectively. The fine root biomass of trees, shrubs and herbs were 148, 62 and 65 g·m–2, respectively. In the gap, the fine root length density of trees was 151 m·m–2. The mean fine root densities of shrubs and herbs in the gap were 756 and 2,568 m·m–2. The fine root biomass of trees, shrubs and herbs were 9, 52 and 47 g·m–2, respectively. Two growing seasons after the gap creation, hardly any fine tree roots were found in the middle of the gap. The living tree roots in the gap edge zone were mainly located within a 4.5 m distance from the standing trees. Indices developed to show the influence of trees on fine root length density clearly revealed the effect of the vicinity of living trees on fine root length density. The root densities of shrubs and herbs did not show a clear response to gap creation despite the increase of their foliage. Our results suggest that in P. mongolica forests a gap disturbance creates a distinct tree root gap and that the gap edge trees do not extend their root systems rapidly into the formed root gap.
The effect of different nitrogen and phosphorus sources on pH and the availability of mineral nutrients in the root/soil interface of Larix gmelinii seedlings were studied by means of root-mat method. The results showed that the addition of NH+4-N decreased the pH in the root/soil interface, while the addition of NO-3-N increased the pH in contrast with the control treatment. The sort of the P sources and the distance from the root plane remarkably influenced the changes of pH in the root/soil interface induced by the addition of the nitrogen sources. Compared with the addition of only NH+4-N, the extent to which the pH in the root/soil interface decreased was obviously smaller when treated by NH+4-N and rock P. When treated with different P sources, the contents of available P in the root/soil interface were affected by the sort of the N sources. When treated with soluble P, the contents of the available P in the root/soil interface obviously increased for the addition of both NH+4-N and NO-3-N. When treated with rock P, the contents of the available P increased only in the area 0～3 mm from the root plane for NH+4-N, whereas the contents of available P in the root/soil interface changed little for NO-3-N. The results above showed that the protons excreted by the roots were the main driving force for the solution of the rock P in the root/soil interface. The availability of Fe in the root/soil interface increased as a result of acidity induced by the NH+4-N, whereas the availability of Fe in the root/soil interface decreased because of the pH increase induced by the NO3-N. The effect of different N sources on the availability of Fe in the root/soil interface was also affected by the sort of P sources. The concentrations of P、Fe in the leaves remarkably differed when treated by different N、P sources and concentrations of the P、Fe in the root/soil interface were correlated to those in the leaves of the seedlings.
