New field wind manipulation methodology reveals adaptive responses of steppe plants to increased and reduced wind speed

Table 2 Effects of wind velocity treatments on plant traits of A. ordosica, C. intermedia, A. squarrosum, and S. ruthenica based on one-way ANOVAs

Plant traits	A. ordosica		C. intermedia		A. squarrosum		S. ruthenica
Plant traits	F	P	F	P	F	P	F	P
Morphology
Height	1.82	0.201	15.55	< 0.001	2.51	0.131	6.40	0.010
Projected crown area	10.97	< 0.001	10.57	0.003	1.64	0.238	25.24	< 0.001
Stem base diameter	5.50	0.016	0.59	0.567	4.11	0.038	2.13	0.155
Root length	8.57	< 0.001	0.50	0.617	5.48	0.017	3.00	0.085
Overall bifurcation ratio	6.03	0.012	4.71	0.026	1.29	0.304	16.36	< 0.001
Stepwise bifurcation ratio_(1:2)	6.51	< 0.001	4.23	0.035	0.91	0.423	3.38	0.062
Leaf length	2.97	0.082	5.51	0.016	0.30	0.747	4.40	0.031
Leaf area	0.06	0.942	4.52	0.029	3.79	0.047	0.04	0.966
Specific leaf area	1.15	0.342	0.51	0.610	0.01	0.992	0.19	0.826
Biomass and allocation
Total biomass	3.04	0.078	6.94	0.007	0.93	0.415	1.85	0.192
Shoot biomass	1.22	0.323	9.22	0.002	4.45	0.030	1.99	0.171
Root biomass	1.39	0.279	2.53	0.113	0.85	0.448	0.60	0.561
Root/shoot ratio	2.50	0.121	4.52	0.049	5.06	0.021	0.10	0.907
Mechanical properties
Stem lignin content	0.59	0.566	0.01	0.993	0.14	0.870	1.51	0.252
Stem cellulose content	13.72	< 0.001	0.12	0.885	25.94	< 0.001	2.68	0.101
Lignin/cellulose ratio	4.74	0.025	0.02	0.984	4.52	0.029	0.68	0.522
Second moment of area (I)	8.80	< 0.001	2.54	0.124	1.56	0.243	6.43	0.014
Young’s modulus (E)	11.83	< 0.001	5.57	0.021	0.70	0.513	6.93	0.011
Flexural stiffness (EI)	3.70	0.049	0.27	0.770	1.10	0.359	1.86	0.201

ISSN: 1746-4811