Question

Write a 4-5 essay of the following article: Alpine ecology, plant biodiversity and photosynthetic performance of marker plants in a nitrogen gradient induced by Alnus bushes.

You can find the article in the following link:

https://bmcecol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12898-020-00292-9

Please summarize and interpretate this article .

( physiologycal ecology )

Answer 1

Alpine vegetation acts on the adjacent vegetation by the nitrogen supply from the symbiotic bacteria known as Frankia alni of Alnus viridis.This has been considered in this article concerning plant distribution,plant diversity, nitrate concentration in soil and photosynthetic performance of specific marker plants.

The changes in plant diversity in the area away from Alnus bushes and trees indicates a strong dependency on the nitrogen supply by the nitrogen fixing symbiotic bacteria Frankia alni .

This was confirmed by chemical nitrate analysis and graphical studies of Alnus covered areas.Fluorescence measurements indicated  that the lower nitrogen level causes nutrient stress to the plant such as more rapid reduction of the primary acceptor, a reduced capacity on the donor site of photosystem II and a lower performance index.So this natural ecosystem was under quasi equilibrium conditions and slow changes in the seasonal cycle were taking place during this study.

Fluorescence data showed differences in the photosynthetic metabolism within the same plant species when sites with high and low nitrogen soil concentration were compared. During the study,not all considered species were equally sensitive. While the grass Calamagrostis reacted strongly to changes in soil nitrogen, Vaccinium was rather insensitive.