Abstract
Plants in raingardens are important for evapotranspiration and maintaining infiltration properties. Hydrological conditions, however, fluctuate between dry and saturated, strongly affecting plant performance and limiting plant selection in design. This study experimentally assessed whether fluctuating hydrology impacts growth, flowering, and root morphology in the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicaria. The hydrological regimes included repeated cycles of dry and wet conditions: Drought regime with cycles of a drought period followed by a single watering; Flooding regime with cycles of 72-hour flooding and a 48-hour drained period; and a subsequent Drought+Flooding regime with cycles of 72-hour flooding followed by a drought period. Knautia reduced growth under flooding cycles, while Lythrum reduced growth and flowering under drought cycles. Repeated consecutive drought and flooding cycles negatively influenced the growth of both species in the same way, with flooding affecting Knautia and drought affecting Lythrum. Lythrum showed more plasticity than Knautia, allocating more biomass to roots during drought cycles. Flooding cycles reduced root length in Knautia, while the drought cycles and consecutive Drought+Flooding cycles increased root diameter and decreased root length in Lythrum. Both species had coarse roots (> 2 mm) to support infiltration through biopores. If we assume that raingardens have free drainage and only rarely flood, drought-tolerant traits are more important. However, wet-tolerant species can benefit the system, especially through higher water use. This research contributes to the ecological understanding of plant responses to fluctuating hydrology, enabling a better plant selection for effective raingardens.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Flooding cycles reduced growth of Knautia arvensis.
- Taxon
- Knautia arvensis
Knautia arvensise0 - Treatment
- flooding cyclese1
- Outcome
- growthe1
- Direction
- reducede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicaria”
e1“Knautia reduced growth under flooding cycles, while Lythrum reduced growth and flowering under drought cycles”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought cycles reduced growth and flowering of Lythrum salicaria.
- Taxon
- Lythrum salicaria
Lythrum salicariae0 - Treatment
- drought cyclese1
- Outcome
- growth and floweringe1
- Direction
- reducede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicaria”
e1“Knautia reduced growth under flooding cycles, while Lythrum reduced growth and flowering under drought cycles”
Claim · model-written summary
Repeated consecutive drought and flooding cycles negatively influenced growth of both species in the same way.
- Taxon
- the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicariaLythrum salicariaKnautia arvensise0
- Treatment
- Repeated consecutive drought and flooding cyclese1
- Outcome
- growthe1
- Direction
- negatively influencede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicaria”
e1“Repeated consecutive drought and flooding cycles negatively influenced the growth of both species in the same way”
Claim · model-written summary
Lythrum salicaria was more plastic than Knautia arvensis, allocating more biomass to roots during drought cycles.
- Taxon
- Lythrum salicariaLythrum salicariae0
- Treatment
- drought cyclese1
- Outcome
- allocating more biomass to rootse1
- Direction
- moree1
- Comparator
- Knautiae1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicaria”
e1“Lythrum showed more plasticity than Knautia, allocating more biomass to roots during drought cycles”
Claim · model-written summary
Flooding cycles reduced root length of Knautia arvensis.
- Taxon
- Knautia arvensisKnautia arvensise0
- Treatment
- Flooding cyclese1
- Outcome
- root lengthe1
- Direction
- reducede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicaria”
e1“Flooding cycles reduced root length in Knautia”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought cycles increased root diameter of Lythrum salicaria.
- Taxon
- Lythrum salicariaLythrum salicariae0
- Treatment
- drought cyclese1
- Outcome
- root diametere1
- Direction
- increasede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicaria”
e1“the drought cycles and consecutive Drought+Flooding cycles increased root diameter and decreased root length in Lythrum”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought cycles decreased root length of Lythrum salicaria.
- Taxon
- Lythrum salicariaLythrum salicariae0
- Treatment
- drought cyclese1
- Outcome
- root lengthe1
- Direction
- decreasede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicaria”
e1“the drought cycles and consecutive Drought+Flooding cycles increased root diameter and decreased root length in Lythrum”
Claim · model-written summary
Both species had coarse roots (> 2 mm) that support infiltration through biopores.
- Taxon
- the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicariaLythrum salicariaKnautia arvensise0
- Outcome
- coarse roots (> 2 mm)e1
- Qualifier
- to support infiltration through bioporese1
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the drought-tolerant Knautia arvensis and the wet-tolerant Lythrum salicaria”
e1“Both species had coarse roots (> 2 mm) to support infiltration through biopores”
Claim · model-written summary
Wet-tolerant species are recommended for raingardens because they can benefit the system through higher water use.
Verbatim
e0“wet-tolerant species can benefit the system, especially through higher water use”