《Ecological adaptation of Reaumuria soongorica root system architecture to arid environments》.pdfVIP

Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions Volume 6, Issue 2, April, 2014 Citation: Shan LS, Li Y, Geng DM, et al., 2014. Ecological adaptation of Reaumuria soongorica root system architecture to arid environments. Sciences  in Cold and Arid Regions, 6(2): 0150–0158. DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1226.2014.00150.  Ecological adaptation of Reaumuria soongorica root system architecture to arid environments LiShan Shan, Yi Li ∗, DongMei Geng, QiuLian Dong College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China *Correspondence to: Dr. Yi Li, Professor of Gansu Agricultural University. No. 1, Yingmen village, Anning, Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China. Tel: E-mail: liyi@ Received: October 30, 2013 Accepted: January 20, 2014 ABSTRACT The architectural parameters of Reaumuria soongorica root system in different habitats of Gansu Province, China were analyzed to examine its ecological adaptability to arid environments. Results show that: (1) Topological indices of R. Soongorica root sys- tem are small in all habitats, and root branching pattern tends to be dichotomous. Also, the indices gradually increase in the Min- qin windblown sand region and the Zhangye Gobi region in Hexi Corridor, which indicates that drought tends to produce her- ringbone-like root branching patterns. (2) Fractal dimension values of R. Soongorica root system are small and not obvious in the Minqin windblown sand region and the Zhangye Gobi region in Hexi Corridor, with values of 1.1778 and 1.1169, respectively. Fractal dimension values are relatively large in Jiuzhoutai se