Relation between Surface Properties of Photosynthetic Organs of 10 Species of Shrubs and Their Dust-Retaining Capabilities in the Hinterland of Taklimakan Desert

In this paper, photosynthetic organs stained with dusts on the whole plant of ten kinds of shrubs planted in Tazhong Botanical Garden, near the Tazhong Si Oilfield, in the hinterland of the Taklimkan Desert, were sampled, and their dust-retaining capabilities of photosynthetic organs were analyzed in mass subtraction method. The results showed that: (1) The order of photosynthetic organ dust-retaining capability of 10 species of shrub evalued in index of dust-retaining capacities of unit fresh weight photosynthetic organs is Tamarix androssowii>; Tamarix hohenakeri>; Tamarix hispida.>; Tamarix ramosissma>; Tamarix elongata >; Tamarix austromongolica >; Tamarix juniperina>; Tamarix taklamakanensis >; Haloxylon ammodendron>; Calligonum caput-medusae. (2) Dust-retaining capability of photosynthetic organs of 10 species of shrub are closely related to its surface properties. Haloxylon ammodendro with higher dust-retaining capabilities of photosynthetic organ than Calligonum caput-medusae is determined by its assimilating branches with shorter knot spacing and more leaves. Though leaves of Tamarix plants are also extremely degraded, they have excellent dust-retaining capability by their photosynthetic organs, higher than Haloxylon ammodendron and Calligonum caput-medusae, due to their photosynthetic organs surface characteristics (such as relatively bigger leaf size, abundant tomenta, salt-secrecting gland), a mass of leaves, greater photosynthetic organs density of crown. Therefore the dust-retaining capability of these Tamarix plants mentioned in this paper differs greatly from each other. These results may provide a scientific basis for tree species selection and allocation in landscaping and shelterbelt constructions and its dust-retaining effect evaluation, also can offer a reference for the studying correlation between plants and soils in arid regions.