TITLE	Phenotypic plasticity of Mosla chinensis and M. scabra (Labiatae) response to soil water status
AUTHOR	Bao-Hua GUAN Zhejiang University, College of Life Science, Xixi Campus, 232 Wensan Road, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China Ying GE Zhejiang University, College of Life Science, Xixi Campus, 232 Wensan Road, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China Jie CHANG* Zhejiang University, College of Life Science, Xixi Campus, 232 Wensan Road, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China
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ABSTRACT	The growth and architectural plasticity of Mosla chinensis Maxim. in response to soil water status were compared with the congeneric plant, Mosla scabra (Thunb.) C. Y. Wu et H. W. Li. Two-week-old seedlings were exposed to five levels of soil water for a 6-week period. The results indicated that: an individual's total mass, root mass, apical height, basal diameter, accumulative branch length and branch fresh weight / dry weight ratio (FWB / DWB) of both species had high plasticity in response to soil water content (P < 0.05), and the plasticity of these traits in M. scabra is mostly higher than in M. chinensis. The leaf mass ratio (LMR), specific leaf area (SLA), root mass ratio (RMR), and root / shoot ratio (R / S) of both species had low plasticity. Furthermore, leaf mass, branch mass, branch mass ratio (BMR), and branch length ratio (BLR) had high plasticity (P < 0.05) in M. chinensis but not in M. scabra (P > 0.05) while branch number exhibited contrary trends. In response to soil water, M. scabra adjusted the traits of total mass and size, in terms of a bigger PI, more than M. chinensis while M. chinensis only adjusted partial branch and root traits, such as BMR, BLR, FWB / DWB, RMR and R / S, more than M. scabra. The optimum water niches (OWN) of both M. chinensis and M. scabra are from 40% soil water holding capacity (WHC) to constant saturation, but M. chinensis is only found in relatively dry environments while M. scabra is distributed from dry to wet environments in the field, so the actual water niche (AWN) was separated from the OWN in M. chinensis, but not in M. scabra. Mosla chinensis grew slower and remained smaller than M. scabra and other neighbor species in the field, and it therefore had no competitive superiority in the community. Mosla scabra was very competitive because of its higher yield and taller growth.
KEYWORD	Interspecific difference; Mosla chinensis; Mosla scabra; Phenotypic plasticity; Relative soil water content; Water niche;
ARTICLE INFO	Botanical Bulletin of Academia Sinica, Volume 45 Number 3 July 2004, page 229-236, 8 pages
PUBLISHER	Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China