Relationships among growth, development and plastic response to environment quality in a perennial plant

Abstract

Summary• Phenotypic traits differ between plants in different environments and within individuals as they grow and develop. Comparing plants in different environments at a common age can obscure the developmental basis for differences in phenotype means in different environments. Here, we compared trait means and patterns of trait ontogeny for perennial ( Viola septemloba ) plants growing in environments that differed in quality either naturally or due to experimental manipulation.• Consistent with predictions for adaptive stress resistance, plants grown in lowerquality environments allocated proportionately more biomass to roots and rhizomes, and produced smaller, thicker and longer-lived leaves. The developmental trajectory of almost all traits differed between environments, and these differences contributed to observed differences in trait means.• Plants were able to alter their initial developmental trajectory in response to an increase in resources after 8 wk of growth. This result contrasts with previous findings, and may reflect a difference in the way that annual and perennial species respond to stress.• Our results demonstrate the complexity of interactions between the environment and the development of the phenotype that underlie putatively adaptive plastic responses to environment quality.

Perennial Roots to Immortality ,

“…In this species, water potentials decreased sharply after exposure to drought, which correlated with high mortality rates. Consistent with predictions for adaptive stress resistance, perennial plants allocate proportionately more biomass to roots and rhizomes and produce smaller, thicker, and longer-lived leaves than those plants grown near optimal conditions (Moriuchi and Winn, 2005). Increased resource allocation to roots, particularly in rhizomes, is a stress resistance trait, because as discussed before, roots (and particularly, tubers and rhizomes as perennial storage organs) provide the safety to resume growth when environmental constraints, such as water or nutrient availability, have passed.…”

Growth of Phragmites japonica on a sandbar of regulated river: morphological adaptation of the plant to low water and nutrient availability in the substrate

“…For some of annual plant species, nutrient availability affects the root shoot biomass partitioning, only when it changes early in ontogeny (McConnaughay and Coleman, 1998). However, it is also reported that plants can alter their initial trajectory in response to even later increase in nutrient resources (Moriuchi and Winn, 2005). In the present study, at low nutrient availability in coarse sediments, the biomass allocation to roots is obviously higher (St.1 and St.2), while at a higher nutrient availability in finer sediments, more fraction of biomass is allocated to aboveground tissues (St.3 and St.5).…”

Adaptation to water level variation: Responses of a floating-leaved macrophyteNymphoides peltatato terrestrial habitats

“…Similarly, a smaller leaf area may be an effective adaptive mechanism to the terrestrial habitat, possibly because a smaller leaf area can result in decreasing water loss by transpiration (Oikawa et al, 2006). Therefore, the production of smaller, longer-lived leaves in lower-quality environments may be a more adaptive approach to increase resource use efficiency in response to stress (Chapin et al, 1993;Kikuzawa, 1991;Moriuchi and Winn, 2005). The present study also suggests that terrestrially grown plants have thinner lamina than aquatically grown plants.…”