EFFECTS OF SHAKING ON THE GROWTH AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF HEDYSARUM LAEVE MAY BE INDEPENDENT OF WATER REGIMES

Little is known about how the effects of mechanical perturbation (MP) on clonal semishrubs vary with soil water in inland dune ecosystems. To investigate this, a greenhouse experiment was conducted in which the seedlings of the clonal semishrub Hedysarum laeve were subjected to two levels of MP (non‐MP vs. MP 60 s d−1) and two levels of water supply (200 vs. 400 mL d−1). MP induced plants to yield shorter stems with less rigidity, fewer leaves, thinner basal diameters, and less biomass; increased soil water allowed plants to produce taller stems, more leaves, thicker basal diameters, and more biomass. However, significant MP by water interactions on the growth and mechanical properties of H. laeve were not detected. These findings suggest that the effects of MP on the growth and mechanical properties of semishrubs may be independent of soil water.