Survival Strategies of Annual Desert Plants

Gutterman, Yitzchak

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-55974-7

Cited by 152 publications

(222 citation statements)

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“…6 and 11) could assist long-distance dispersal by adherence to animal vectors (Norton et al, 1997;Mummenhoff and Franzke, 2007). However, it also may allow M + seeds to adhere to soil particles, a common mechanism for seed retention in dry habitats (Huang et al, 2000;Lu et al, 2010;Gutterman, 2012). Beyond dispersal, seed mucilage may promote seed germination through the attraction and retention of water surrounding the seed (Yang et al, 2012), protect against osmotic stress (Yang et al, 2010), assist the repair of embryo DNA damage (Yang et al, 2011), and promote early seedling growth as an adaptation to harsh desert environments (Yang et al, 2012).…”

Section: Morphology and Ecophysiology Of Dimorphic Seed Germination Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental Control and Plasticity of Fruit and Seed Dimorphism in Aethionema arabicum

et al. 2016

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Understanding how plants cope with changing habitats is a timely and important topic in plant research. Phenotypic plasticity describes the capability of a genotype to produce different phenotypes when exposed to different environmental conditions. In contrast, the constant production of a set of distinct phenotypes by one genotype mediates bet hedging, a strategy that reduces the temporal variance in fitness at the expense of a lowered arithmetic mean fitness. Both phenomena are thought to represent important adaptation strategies to unstable environments. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of these phenomena, partly due to the lack of suitable model systems. We used phylogenetic and comparative analyses of fruit and seed anatomy, biomechanics, physiology, and environmental responses to study fruit and seed heteromorphism, a typical morphological basis of a bet-hedging strategy of plants, in the annual Brassicaceae species Aethionema arabicum. Our results indicate that heteromorphism evolved twice within the Aethionemeae, including once for the monophyletic annual Aethionema clade. The dimorphism of Ae. arabicum is associated with several anatomic, biomechanical, gene expression, and physiological differences between the fruit and seed morphs. However, fruit ratios and numbers change in response to different environmental conditions. Therefore, the life-history strategy of Ae. arabicum appears to be a blend of bet hedging and plasticity. Together with the available genomic resources, our results pave the way to use this species in future studies intended to unravel the molecular control of heteromorphism and plasticity.

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Section: Morphology and Ecophysiology Of Dimorphic Seed Germination Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental Control and Plasticity of Fruit and Seed Dimorphism in Aethionema arabicum

et al. 2016

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“…For example, the requirement for after-ripening prevents seeds that are dispersed during the summer from germinating in response to short rain spells (Gutterman, 2002;Merritt et al, 2007).…”

Section: After-ripening and Dormancy Effects On The Life History Of Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed after‐ripening and dormancy determine adult life history independently of germination timing

et al. 2012

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Summary• Seed dormancy can affect life history through its effects on germination time. Here, we investigate its influence on life history beyond the timing of germination.• We used the response of Arabidopsis thaliana to chilling at the germination and flowering stages to test the following: how seed dormancy affects germination responses to the environment; whether variation in dormancy affects adult phenology independently of germination time; and whether environmental cues experienced by dormant seeds have an effect on adult life history.• Dormancy conditioned the germination response to low temperatures, such that prolonged periods of chilling induced dormancy in nondormant seeds, but stimulated germination in dormant seeds. The alleviation of dormancy through after-ripening was associated with earlier flowering, independent of germination date. Experimental dormancy manipulations showed that prolonged chilling at the seed stage always induced earlier flowering, regardless of seed dormancy. Surprisingly, this effect of seed chilling on flowering time was observed even when low temperatures did not induce germination.• In summary, seed dormancy influences flowering time and hence life history independent of its effects on germination timing. We conclude that the seed stage has a pronounced effect on life history, the influence of which goes well beyond the timing of germination.

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“…Some demographic studies [29,30] suggest that the establishment of many woody species from arid and semi-arid areas is a rare event, which is mainly due to the occurrence of excessive water stress caused by low rainfall and/or high evapotranspiration rates. However, the establishment of these woody species would be possible only after years of above normal and well-distributed rainfall [31].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed Germination Characteristics ofRhus tripartitum(Ucria) Grande andZiziphus lotus(L.): Effects of Water Stress

Zouaoui

Ksontini

Ferchichi

2013

International Journal of Ecology

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Ziziphus lotus (L.) Lam. (Rhamnaceae) and Rhus tripartitum or Sumac (Anacardiaceae) are two indigenous species from arid and semiarid regions of Tunisia, characterized by a severe climate where dry seasons are very long. The combined action of anthropogenic factors and climate in arid regions caused a gradual threat of plant assets. In this context, an experimental study of the effects of water stress (0 to −1 MPa) on seeds has identified the water requirements germinal stage of both species. The results showed that both species were able to germinate at relatively low water potentials. However, beyond −0.6 MPa, germination was completely inhibited for R. tripartitum, when it reached for another 50% for Z. lotus. Increasing the concentration of PEG 6000 progressively inhibited germination in both species. Only Z. lotus could be considered tolerant of water stress, because, to −1 MPa, seeds germinated with a rate of 17%. It resulted in that the species Z. lotus presented an adaptive capacity to aridity much greater than that observed for R. tripartitum.

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Survival Strategies of Annual Desert Plants

Cited by 152 publications

References 0 publications

Developmental Control and Plasticity of Fruit and Seed Dimorphism in Aethionema arabicum

Developmental Control and Plasticity of Fruit and Seed Dimorphism in Aethionema arabicum

Seed after‐ripening and dormancy determine adult life history independently of germination timing

Seed Germination Characteristics ofRhus tripartitum(Ucria) Grande andZiziphus lotus(L.): Effects of Water Stress

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