Resource translocation facilitates restoration of saline-alkali degraded grasslands by altering resource acquisition of dominant species

Abstract

Clonal functional traits such as physiological integration (resource translocation between connected individuals) can promote the performance of clonal plants and modify their environments. Such performance promotion of dominant clonal plants may help restore degraded communities. To test this, we conducted one three-year field experiment and two complementary pot experiments to assess the ecological consequences of physiological integration of Leymus chinensis, at both community and individual levels, in a saline-alkali degraded grassland in northeastern China. Field-based results showed that physiological integration increased community biomass and improved soil conditions in degraded patches, and these impacts were amplified by nitrogen enrichment and defoliation. The complementary pot experiments further showed that the community-level responses were associated with coordinated changes in biomass allocation, root functional traits, and competitive interactions, thereby promoting the establishment and spatial expansion of L. chinensis. Our study demonstrates that resource translocation through physiological integration facilitates degraded grassland restoration by coordinating above- and belowground resource acquisition of dominant clonal plants across heterogeneous environments. These findings provide a mechanistic framework linking individual-level resource translocation to community-level restoration, and highlighting the ecological importance of clonal functional traits in degraded vegetation restoration.