Relation between surface properties of photosynthetic organs of 10 species of shrubs and their dust-retaining capabilities in the hinterland of Ta

In this paper, photosynthetic organs stained with dustson the whole plant of ten kinds of shrubs planted in TazhongBotanical Garden, near the Tazhong Si Oilfield, in the hinterlandof the Taklimkan Desert, were sampled, and their dust-retainingcapabilities of photosynthetic organs were analyzed in masssubtraction method. The results showed that: (1)The order ofphotosynthetic organ dust-retaining capability of 10 species ofshrub evalued in index of dust-retaining capacities of unit freshweight photosynthetic organs is Tamarix androssowii> Tamarixhohenakeri> Tamarix hispida.> Tamarix ramosissma> Tamarixelongata > Tamarix austromongolica > Tamarix juniperina>Tamarix taklamakanensis > Haloxylon ammodendron> Calligonum caput-medusae. (2)Dust-retaining capability ofphotosynthetic organs of 10 species of shrub are closely related toits surface properties. Haloxylon ammodendro with higher dustretainingcapabilities of photosynthetic organ than Calligonumcaput-medusae is determined by its assimilating brancheswith shorter knot spacing and more leaves. Though leaves ofTamarix plants are also extremely degraded, they have excellentdust-retaining capability by their photosynthetic organs, higherthan Haloxylon ammodendron and Calligonum caput-medusae,due to their photosynthetic organs surface characteristics (suchas relatively bigger leaf size, abundant tomenta, salt-secrectinggland), a mass of leaves, greater photosynthetic organs density ofcrown. Therefore the dust-retaining capability of these Tamarixplants mentioned in this paper differs greatly from eachother.These results may provide a scientific basis for tree speciesselection and allocation in landscaping and shelterbeltconstructions and its dust-retaining effect evaluation, also canoffer a reference for the studying correlation between plants andsoils in arid regions