3 Results
Water availability significantly affected total biomass, aboveground biomass, belowground biomass and R: S ratio of plants, which were modified by species (Table 1-4; Fig. 2-5).
(1) For L. chinensis : increasing water availability significantly increased its total biomass (Fig. 2a) and R: S ratio (Fig. 5a). The latter mainly derived from the increased belowground biomass (Fig. 4a), and aboveground biomass firstly increased and then decreased after reaching to a peak (Fig. 3a).
(2) For S. grandis : increasing water availability increased firstly and then decreased its total biomass (Fig. 2b), forming a unimodal pattern. Similar patterns were found in aboveground biomass (Fig. 3b) and belowground biomass (Fig. 4b). However, increasing water availability did not impact its R: S ratio (Fig. 5b).
(3) For A. frigida : increasing water availability increased its total biomass (Fig. 2c) and belowground biomass (Fig. 4c). Aboveground biomass (Fig. 3c) and R: S ratio (Fig. 5c) followed a unimodal pattern.
(4) For P. acaulis : increasing water availability increased its total biomass (Fig. 2d), aboveground biomass (Fig. 3d) and belowground biomass (Fig. 4d). However, it decreased the R: S ratio (Fig. 5d).