Аннотация:Waterlogging and ill-aeration of soil are of wide ecological importance. It is clear from observations that species of plants differ in their tolerance of poor aeration but the physiological nature of these differences is unknown. Studies of soil aeration involve a complex of conditions which are often difficult to separate. Oxygen deficiency and high concentrations of carbon dioxide in poorly aerated soils are well known (Russell & Appleyard 1915) and the associated micro-biological reduction reactions which concern the availability and solubility of, notably, nitrates, sulphates, iron and manganese have also been recognized (Russell 1952). However, although numerous papers have been published attributing poor plant growth to conditions of poorly aerated soils, only a few investigations have attempted to ascertain which aspect of poor aeration is most critical to plant growth. Mercurialis perennis is one of the commonest European woodland plants and has long been recognized to be very sensitive to either waterlogging per se or ill-aeration of the soil. The present paper describes a comparative experimental study of a group of woodland species undertaken to elucidate more fully the factors which cause a particular distributional pattern shown by M. perennis in the boulder-clay woodlands of Cambridgeshire.
