Coastal wetlands are highly heterogeneous due to their location between land and ocean. Clonal plants living in coastal wetlands can adapt to nutrient and salinity heterogeneity through clonal integration. However, little is known about how the single clonal ramet with fine roots adapts to nutrient heterogeneity within the microhabitat. Pot control experiments with 12 treatments were conducted to evaluate adaptive characteristics of Phragmites australis seedling to nutrient heterogeneity under salt stress. The results showed that under homogeneous nutrient treatment, 1.5% salt significantly reduced plant height and tiller number in P. australis and depressed the effect of nutrients on the leaf length, width and internode length. The homogeneous nutrient gradients had no significant effect on the aboveground biomass of P. australis in 1.5% salt condition. However, under 1.5% salt treatment, heterogeneous nutrient significantly reduced the underground biomass, including rhizome and adventitious root biomass. The root–shoot ratio was higher under homogeneous nutrient treatment than heterogeneous treatment with the same total nutrient amount applied. However, the accumulation of total nitrogen and total phosphorous in the stems and leaves of P. australis did not show significant differences, except that without salt stress, heterogeneous treatment decreased the total nitrogen content of stems and leaves at low nutrient levels. The results demonstrated a preference for homogeneous nutrient conditions in saline micro-environments in P. australis; however, when encountering heterogeneous soil nutrient environments, plants can maintain their nutrient requirements and even promote growth through physiological plasticity.

由于位于陆地和海洋之间，沿海湿地具有高度异质性。生活在沿海湿地的克隆植物可以通过克隆整合来适应养分和盐度的异质性。然而，关于具有细根的单克隆分株如何适应微生境内的营养异质性知之甚少。进行了12个处理的盆栽对照试验，评价了芦苇幼苗在盐胁迫下对养分异质性的适应性特征。结果表明，在均质养分处理下，1.5%的盐分显着降低了澳洲松的株高和分蘖数并抑制养分对叶片长度、宽度和节间长度的影响。在 1.5% 盐分条件下，均匀的养分梯度对澳大利亚松的地上生物量没有显着影响。然而，在 1.5% 盐处理下，异质养分显着降低了地下生物量，包括根茎和不定根生物量。均质养分处理下的根冠比高于施用相同总养分量的异质处理。然而，澳洲松茎叶中全氮和全磷的积累没有显示出显着差异，除了没有盐胁迫外，异质处理在低营养水平下降低了茎叶的总氮含量。结果表明，澳大利亚松属植物偏爱含盐微环境中的均质营养条件；然而，当遇到异质土壤养分环境时，植物可以通过生理可塑性维持其养分需求，甚至促进生长。