scholarly journals Rethinking the Plant Economics Spectrum for Annuals: A Multi-Species Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Kurze ◽  
Bettina M. J. Engelbrecht ◽  
Mark C. Bilton ◽  
Katja Tielbörger ◽  
Leonor Álvarez-Cansino
Keyword(s):  
Species Distribution ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Root Traits ◽  
Carbon Gain ◽  
Annual Species ◽  
Rainfall Gradient ◽  
Ecological Filtering ◽  
Winter Annuals ◽  
Structural Traits

The plant economics spectrum hypothesizes a correlation among resource-use related traits along one single axis, which determines species’ growth rates and their ecological filtering along resource gradients. This concept has been mostly investigated and shown in perennial species, but has rarely been tested in annual species. Annuals evade unfavorable seasons as seeds and thus may underlie different constraints, with consequences for interspecific trait-trait, trait-growth, and trait-environment relations. To test the hypotheses of the plant economics spectrum in annual species, we measured twelve resource-use related leaf and root traits in 30 winter annuals from Israel under controlled conditions. Traits and their coordinations were related to species’ growth rates (for 19 species) and their distribution along a steep rainfall gradient. Contrary to the hypotheses of the plant economics spectrum, in the investigated annuals traits were correlated along two independent axes, one of structural traits and one of carbon gain traits. Consequently, species’ growth rates were related to carbon gain traits, but independent from structural traits. Species’ distribution along the rainfall gradient was unexpectedly neither associated with species’ scores along the axes of carbon gain or structural traits nor with growth rate. Nevertheless, root traits were related with species’ distribution, indicating that they are relevant for species’ filtering along rainfall gradients in winter annuals. Overall, our results showed that the functional constraints hypothesized by the plant economics spectrum do not apply to winter annuals, leading to unexpected trait-growth and trait-rainfall relations. Our study thus cautions to generalize trait-based concepts and findings between life-history strategies. To predict responses to global change, trait-based concepts should be explicitly tested for different species groups.

scholarly journals Phenotyping Root Systems in a Set of Japonica Rice Accessions: Can Structural Traits Predict the Response to Drought?

Rice ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo Henrique Ramos Guimarães ◽  
Isabela Pereira de Lima ◽  
Adriano Pereira de Castro ◽  
Anna Cristina Lanna ◽  
Patrícia Guimarães Santos Melo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Root System ◽  
Water Deficit ◽  
High Throughput ◽  
Root Traits ◽  
Root Systems ◽  
Japonica Rice ◽  
Plastic Response ◽  
Reproductive Phase ◽  
High Throughput Phenotyping ◽  
Structural Traits

Abstract Background The root system plays a major role in plant growth and development and root system architecture is reported to be the main trait related to plant adaptation to drought. However, phenotyping root systems in situ is not suited to high-throughput methods, leading to the development of non-destructive methods for evaluations in more or less controlled root environments. This study used a root phenotyping platform with a panel of 20 japonica rice accessions in order to: (i) assess their genetic diversity for a set of structural and morphological root traits and classify the different types; (ii) analyze the plastic response of their root system to a water deficit at reproductive phase and (iii) explore the ability of the platform for high-throughput phenotyping of root structure and morphology. Results High variability for the studied root traits was found in the reduced set of accessions. Using eight selected traits under irrigated conditions, five root clusters were found that differed in root thickness, branching index and the pattern of fine and thick root distribution along the profile. When water deficit occurred at reproductive phase, some accessions significantly reduced root growth compared to the irrigated treatment, while others stimulated it. It was found that root cluster, as defined under irrigated conditions, could not predict the plastic response of roots under drought. Conclusions This study revealed the possibility of reconstructing the structure of root systems from scanned images. It was thus possible to significantly class root systems according to simple structural traits, opening up the way for using such a platform for medium to high-throughput phenotyping. The study also highlighted the uncoupling between root structures under non-limiting water conditions and their response to drought.

Differential determinants of growth rates in subtropical evergreen and deciduous juvenile trees: Carbon gain, hydraulics and nutrient use efficiencies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin-Hua Qi ◽  
Ze-Xin Fan ◽  
Pei-Li Fu ◽  
Yong-Jiang Zhang ◽  
Frank Sterck
Keyword(s):  
Tree Growth ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Nutrient Use Efficiency ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Deciduous Tree ◽  
Carbon Gain ◽  
Evergreen Species ◽  
Nutrient Use ◽  
Use Efficiency

Abstract Growth rate varies across plant species and represents an important ecological strategy for competition, resource use and fitness. However, empirical studies often show a low predictability of functional traits to tree growth. We measured stem diameter and height growth rates of 96 juvenile trees (2 to 5 m tall) of eight evergreen and eight deciduous broadleaf tree species over three consecutive years in a subtropical forest in southwestern China. We examined the relationships between tree growth rates and 20 leaf/stem traits that associated with carbon gain, stem hydraulics and nutrient use efficiency, as well as the difference between evergreen and deciduous trees. We found that cross-species variations of stem diameter/height growth rate can be predicted by leaf photosynthetic capacity, leaf mass per area, xylem theoretical specific hydraulic conductivity, wood density and photosynthetic nutrient use efficiencies. Higher leaf carbon assimilation and lower leaf/stem constructing costs facilitate deciduous species to be more resource acquisitive and consequently faster growth within a relatively shorter growing season, whereas evergreen species exhibit a more conservative strategies and thus slower growth. Further, stem growth rates of evergreen species showed were more dependence on leaf carbon gains, whereas stem hydraulic efficiency were more important for deciduous tree growth. Our results suggest that physiological traits (photosynthesis, hydraulics, nutrient use efficiency) can predict tree diameter and height growth of subtropical tree species. The differential resource acquisition and use strategies and their associations with tree growth between evergreen and deciduous trees provide insights in explaining the co-existence of evergreen and deciduous tree species in subtropical forests.

scholarly journals Non-invasive approaches for phenotyping of enhanced performance traits in bean

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (12) ◽  
pp. 968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uwe Rascher ◽  
Stephan Blossfeld ◽  
Fabio Fiorani ◽  
Siegfried Jahnke ◽  
Marcus Jansen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
High Throughput ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
High Throughput Screening ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Plant Phenotyping ◽  
Plant Structure ◽  
Resource Use Efficiency ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Structural Traits

Plant phenotyping is an emerging discipline in plant biology. Quantitative measurements of functional and structural traits help to better understand gene–environment interactions and support breeding for improved resource use efficiency of important crops such as bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Here we provide an overview of state-of-the-art phenotyping approaches addressing three aspects of resource use efficiency in plants: belowground roots, aboveground shoots and transport/allocation processes. We demonstrate the capacity of high-precision methods to measure plant function or structural traits non-invasively, stating examples wherever possible. Ideally, high-precision methods are complemented by fast and high-throughput technologies. High-throughput phenotyping can be applied in the laboratory using automated data acquisition, as well as in the field, where imaging spectroscopy opens a new path to understand plant function non-invasively. For example, we demonstrate how magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can resolve root structure and separate root systems under resource competition, how automated fluorescence imaging (PAM fluorometry) in combination with automated shape detection allows for high-throughput screening of photosynthetic traits and how imaging spectrometers can be used to quantify pigment concentration, sun-induced fluorescence and potentially photosynthetic quantum yield. We propose that these phenotyping techniques, combined with mechanistic knowledge on plant structure–function relationships, will open new research directions in whole-plant ecophysiology and may assist breeding for varieties with enhanced resource use efficiency varieties.

scholarly journals Elevated Ozone Concentration Reduces Photosynthetic Carbon Gain but Does Not Alter Leaf Structural Traits, Nutrient Composition or Biomass in Switchgrass

Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Li ◽  
Galatéa Courbet ◽  
Alain Ourry ◽  
Elizabeth A. Ainsworth
Keyword(s):  
Ozone Concentration ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nutrient Composition ◽  
Carbon Gain ◽  
Air Concentration ◽  
Bioenergy Feedstock ◽  
Elevated O3 ◽  
Bioenergy Feedstocks ◽  
Structural Traits

Elevated tropospheric ozone concentration (O3) increases oxidative stress in vegetation and threatens the stability of crop production. Current O3 pollution in the United States is estimated to decrease the yields of maize (Zea mays) up to 10%, however, many bioenergy feedstocks including switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) have not been studied for response to O3 stress. Using Free Air Concentration Enrichment (FACE) technology, we investigated the impacts of elevated O3 (~100 nmol mol−1) on leaf photosynthetic traits and capacity, chlorophyll fluorescence, the Ball–Woodrow–Berry (BWB) relationship, respiration, leaf structure, biomass and nutrient composition of switchgrass. Elevated O3 concentration reduced net CO2 assimilation rate (A), stomatal conductance (gs), and maximum CO2 saturated photosynthetic capacity (Vmax), but did not affect other functional and structural traits in switchgrass or the macro- (except potassium) and micronutrient content of leaves. These results suggest that switchgrass exhibits a greater O3 tolerance than maize, and provide important fundamental data for evaluating the yield stability of a bioenergy feedstock crop and for exploring O3 sensitivity among bioenergy feedstocks.

scholarly journals C 4 photosynthesis and the economic spectra of leaf and root traits independently influence growth rates in grasses

2020 ◽  
Vol 108 (5) ◽  
pp. 1899-1909 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberley J. Simpson ◽  
Christopher Bennett ◽  
Rebecca R. L. Atkinson ◽  
Emily J. Mockford ◽  
Scott McKenzie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rates ◽  
Root Traits

Do elephants over-utilize mopane woodlands in northern Botswana?

1996 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphael Ben-Shahar
Keyword(s):  
Biomass Production ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Above Ground Biomass ◽  
Current Estimate ◽  
Rainfall Gradient ◽  
Ground Biomass ◽  
Biomass Removal ◽  
Elephant Population ◽  
Trees And Shrubs ◽  
Regional Rainfall

ABSTRACTEvidence from southern African semi-arid savannas suggests that high elephant densities in nature reserves cause the over-utilization of woodlands. Northern Botswana, with its prolific elephant population, is expected to follow such a pattern unless the densities of elephants which could be sustained by indigenous woodlands are determined and maintained at carrying capacity. Above ground biomass production was estimated for mopane (Colophospermum mopane) woodlands, a principal food source for elephants, which grows over much of northern Botswana. Densities of trees and shrubs, dimensions of plants and elephant densities were recorded within stratified plots situated according to a regional rainfall gradient. Mean estimates of above ground biomass (foliage and twigs) were 9.41 and 7.83 t ha−1 for shrubs and trees respectively. A logistic model described the maximum levels of biomass removal from plants before over-utilization of mopane occurred. Variables incorporated in the model included above ground biomass of mopane shrubs and trees, growth rates of plants and expected off-take by elephants. The model predicted a complete biomass regain within 10 y if no elephant browsing occurs. Intensive elephant browsing in woodlands containing 15 elephants km−2, however, can suppress biomass production if growth rates of plants fall below 70% of the maximum annual rate. Nonetheless, there was no substantial evidence to suggest that elephants will reduce the biomass of mopane woodlands in northern Botswana below a sustainable level if their numbers are allowed to increase considerably beyond the current estimate.

Growth and photosynthesis of Aechmea magdalenae, a terrestrial CAM plant in a tropical moist forest, Panama

1988 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Pfitsch ◽  
Alan P. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rates ◽  
Forest Growth ◽  
Barro Colorado Island ◽  
Photon Flux ◽  
Carbon Gain ◽  
Canopy Openness ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
Aechmea Magdalenae

ABSTRACTAechmea magdalenae is a terrestrial bromeliad that dominates areas of forest understorey on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Nocturnal CO2 uptake via crassulacean acid metabolism was the primary means of carbon gain under well-watered conditions and all light regimes. The ability to maintain a positive carbon balance under conditions of very low light was demonstrated by laboratory measurements of photosynthesis and forest measurements of growth. Low-light-grown juvenile rosettes had the same daily net assimilation whether tested at photon flux densities of 15 or 300 μmol m−2 s−1 Growth rates of rosettes in treefall gaps were similar to those of plants in closed canopy forest. Growth rates of forest plants were increasingly correlated with canopy openness as the wet season progressed due to increased growth by gap plants, suggesting that water availability rather than light may limit growth during the annual dry season.

scholarly journals Drivers of tree species distribution across a tropical rainfall gradient

Ecosphere ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e01712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Gaviria ◽  
Benjamin L. Turner ◽  
Bettina M. J. Engelbrecht
Keyword(s):  
Species Distribution ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Rainfall Gradient ◽  
Tropical Rainfall
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document