Drought and extreme temperature tolerance for <em>Tillandsia dasyliriifolia</em>, an epiphytic bromeliad from the northern coastal dune scrubland in Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

Abstract:The ecophysiological investigations about epiphytic plants have focused on the establishment of mechanistic explanations of how plants respond to changes in their environment. The main objective of this work was to assess the drought and extreme temperature tolerance of Tillandsia dasyliriifolia individuals growing in two coastal dune scrub sites with different precipitation patterns and microhabitat distribution. This study was focused on the effect of plant size on tolerance parameters. Drought and extreme temperature tolerance were evaluated in small (S1, 9 cm) and large individuals (S2, 35 cm). Tolerance between sites was not different but varied between size classes. Tillandsia dasyliriifolia shows moderate tolerance to drought in comparison to more succulent plants. The 50% of the leaves in small plants died after 40 days of drought and after 60 days for large plants. T. dasyliriifolia also exhibits moderate tolerance to extreme temperatures tolerance, small plants tolerate a temperature range from 11 ºC to 40 ºC and the range for large plants is a little broader (9 °C to 43 °C). Key words: Epiphyte, crassulacean acid metabolism, plant size, drought tolerance, temperature tolerance.Resumen: Las investigaciones ecofisiológicas sobre las plantas epífitas se centran en establecer mecanismos que expliquen cómo las plantas responden a los cambios en su entorno. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar la tolerancia a la sequía y temperaturas extremas de individuos de Tillandsia dasyliriifolia provenientes de dos localidades de matorral de duna costera con diferentes patrones de precipitación, fisonomía y en la distribución de microhábitats. En ambos sitios se evaluó la tolerancia a la sequía y a temperaturas extremas de individuos de diferentes tamaños, 9 cm (S1) y 35 cm (S2). No se encontraron diferencias en las tolerancias entre sitios pero sí entre tamaños T. dasyliriifolia es moderadamente tolerante a la sequía, cuando se le compara con plantas más suculentas, ya que el 50 % de las hojas en individuos pequeños murieron hasta los 40 días de sequía y en los individuos grandes hasta los 60 días. La tolerancia a temperaturas extremas de T. dasyliriifolia también es moderada. Las plantas pequeñas toleran intervalos entre 11 ºC a 40 ºC mientras que las plantas más grandes de 9 ºC a 43 ºC. Palabras clave: Epifita, metabolismo ácido de las crasuláceas, tamaño de las plantas, tolerancia a la sequía, tolerancia a temperatura.

Phenology of Tillandsia purpurea in association with microclimatic variables in a hyperarid environment of the southern Peruvian coast

“…Currently, there is not much information on microclimatic conditions associated with plant species, particularly in hyperarid areas, even though their importance has been recognized, especially to establish their mechanisms and effect on vegetation, chiefly in fog ecosystems (Sotomayor & Drezner, 2019). Temperature ranges recorded during this study are in accordance with temperature ranges reported for other Peruvian desert localities with fog occurrence (Sotomayor & Drezner, 2019), and also above the temperature tolerance ranges of some species, such as Tillandsia dasyliriifolia, in which tolerance ranges above the lethal temperature (LT 50 ) are reported to be a minimum of 9.15 ºC and a maximum of 43.10 ºC (Castillo et al 2016). It is suggested that the density of the trichome layer is one of the factors involved in the survival of tillandsias to such temperature variations and water loss by evapotranspiration, which would vary among different species, and which present an inverse relation to this variable concerning water loss and, consequently, their survival (Ohrui et al 2007).…”

Drought effects on resource partition and conservation among leaf ontogenetic stages in epiphytic tank bromeliads

“…The effects of drought stress have already been documented in some tank and tankless bromeliad epiphytes. A clear reduction in net photosynthesis and transpiration rate, CAM activity, relative water content and water and osmotic potentials has been shown with increasing drought stress (Medina et al 1986, Stiles and Martin 1996, Nowak and Martin 1997, Bader et al 2009, Ceusters et al 2009b, Castillo et al 2016, Vanhoutte et al 2016, Vieira et al 2017a, Leroy et al 2019). Some studies also showed preferential maintenance of the soluble sugar pools over starch to fulfil metabolic needs under water deprivation (Ceusters et al 2009a, Ceusters et al 2009b, Leroy et al 2019).…”

Closely related facultative and constitutive CAM phenotypes show little transcriptomic overlap in the subgenusTillandsia

“…These findings further support the view that “atmospheric” or “grey” Tillandsia such as T. vanhyningii are drought-adapted, which has been shown in physiological studies (Martin, 1994; Stiles and Martin, 1996; Nowak et al ., 1997; Castillo, Cervera and Navarro-Alberto, 2016), but to our knowledge not on a broad transcriptomic or genomic level. Atmospheric Tillandsia represent the most extreme forms of adaptation to an epiphytic lifestyle among Bromeliaceae, having lost almost entirely the ability to absorb water with roots (Benzing, 2000; Crayn, Winter and Smith, 2004).…”