fects of early drought-induced phenotypic plasticity on late plant seedling interactions

Abstract In nature, plants are often exposed to a variety of environments. The study of plant phenotypic plasticity cannot ignore a variety of environmental factors. At present, early exposure to flood or drought conditions will change the response of plants to later conditions, but little research has been done on whether early drought experience affects the interaction between plants in the later period. This paper takes Celtis sinensis and Bidens pilosa L. as the research object, through the second stage of individual growth ( drought, wet ), intraspecific interaction ( dry-dry, drought-wet, wet-wet ), interspecific interaction (dry-dry, drought-wet, wet-dry, wet-wet) biomass and morphological characteristics. The results showed that under the intraspecific interaction, the total biomass and aboveground biomass of Celtis sinensis owed a promoting effect under the treatment of no plasticity in the early flower pot ( no induced DP ) and no plasticity in the early stage and plasticity in the neighbor ( single induced SP- ), while the total biomass and aboveground biomass of Celtis sinensis showed a competitive effect under the treatment of plasticity in the early flower pot ( double induced NP ) and plasticity in the early stage and no plasticity in the neighbor ( single induced SP + ). It shows that early water-induced plasticity affects the strength of plant interaction in the later stage to varying degrees. It experienced early wetting ( no induced DP ). In the later intraspecific interaction, Celtis sinensis showed limited aboveground growth and good underground growth, which was contrary to the result that the aboveground part grew well and the underground part grew limited under single induced SP-. This indicates that the current plastic response of plants is not only dependent on early environmental experience, but also may be related to the cost of plasticity. Therefore, the early plastic response to drought environment may sacrifice the subsequent growth potential of Celtis sinensis and limit the plasticity of Celtis sinensis in the later stage. For Bidens pilosa L. under the intraspecific interaction, the aboveground biomass was increased and the underground biomass was decreased under the treatment of early plasticity and no plasticity of neighbors ( single induced SP + ), while the aboveground growth was limited and the underground growth was good under the treatment of early plasticity and plasticity of neighbors ( single induced SP- ). The influence of different early experiences on the interaction between early and late plants Different Bidens pilosa L. can cope with the influence of late intraspecific interaction through the mutual transformation of aboveground and underground parts.