Water-spender strategy is linked to higher leaf nutrient concentrations across plant species colonizing a dry and nutrient-poor epiphytic habitat

Querejeta, José Ignacio; Prieto, Iván; Torres, Pilar Díez de Revenga; Campoy, M.; Alguacil, M.M.; Roldán, A.

doi:10.1016/j.envexpbot.2018.06.007

Cited by 30 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…On the contrary, isoprene emitters showed a highly conservative water-use strategy, with early stomatal closure and an elevated sensitivity of transpiration to soil drying. While dryland agriculture might benefit from conservative genotypes [28,36], a non-conservative strategy is advantageous for maximizing nutrient capture and for successful colonization of dry habitats with extreme fluctuations in resource availability [37]. Under short resource fluctuations, fast nutrient and water uptake can take over resource utilization by slower neighbors, thus providing a competitive advantage in disadvantageous epiphytic habitats [37,38].…”

Section: Isoprene and Ocimene Emission Resulted In A Moderate Toleranmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shoot Characterization of Isoprene and Ocimene-Emitting Transgenic Arabidopsis Plants under Contrasting Environmental Conditions

Faralli

Varotto

2020

Plants

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Isoprenoids are among the most abundant biogenic volatile compounds (VOCs) emitted by plants, and mediate both biotic and abiotic stress responses. Here, we provide for the first time a comparative analysis of transgenic Arabidopsis lines constitutively emitting isoprene and ocimene. Transgenic lines and Columbia-0 (Col-0) Arabidopsis were characterized under optimal, water stress, and heat stress conditions. Under optimal conditions, the projected leaf area (PLA), relative growth rate, and final dry weight were generally higher in transgenics than Col-0. These traits were associated to a larger photosynthetic capacity and CO 2 assimilation rate at saturating light. Isoprene and ocimene emitters displayed a moderately higher stress tolerance than Col-0, showing higher PLA and gas-exchange traits throughout the experiments. Contrasting behaviors were recorded for the two overexpressors under water stress, with isoprene emitters showing earlier stomatal closure (conservative behavior) than ocimene emitters (non-conservative behavior), which might suggest different induced strategies for water conservation and stress adaptation. Our work indicates that (i) isoprene and ocimene emitters resulted in enhanced PLA and biomass under optimal and control conditions and that (ii) a moderate stress tolerance is induced when isoprene and ocimene are constitutively emitted in Arabidopsis, thus providing evidence of their role as a potential preferable trait for crop improvement.

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Section: Isoprene and Ocimene Emission Resulted In A Moderate Toleranmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shoot Characterization of Isoprene and Ocimene-Emitting Transgenic Arabidopsis Plants under Contrasting Environmental Conditions

Faralli

Varotto

2020

Plants

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Epiphytes are generally considered to survive in the harsh habitats through luxury consumption of nutrients [14]. Therefore, epiphytes may show higher N and P concentrations, and lower nutrient use than terrestrial plants [12,14]. However, little research compared the difference in nutrient use between epiphytes and terrestrial plants, and many of them investigated different species and result in a potential phylogenetic bias [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is a fast-emerging tool that is critical for studying the ability of plants to maintain constant elemental composition [18][19][20][21], the ecological strategies of plants [22], and their nutrient limitations [23][24][25] in natural and semi-natural ecosystems. The conservative species generally showed low N and P content and high C:N and C:P ratios, while luxury species showed the opposite traits [14,26,27]. Moreover, the N:P of plants has long been considered to be an indicator of nutrient limitation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, only a few studies focused the stoichiometric traits of epiphytes [29,43], no studies have reported the stoichiometric homeostasis of facultative epiphytes. Moreover, according to Zotz [12], epiphytes are luxury consumption plants that have high nutrient concentrations but low rates of photosynthesis, which general feature a low nutrient use efficiency [14]. However, whether epiphytic individuals of facultative epiphytes (which occur both epiphytically and terrestrially) are more efficient in nutrient use than terrestrial individuals remain an open question.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Divergent Adaptation Strategies of Vascular Facultative Epiphytes to Bark and Soil Habitats: Insights from Stoichiometry

Zhang

Liu

et al. 2020

Forests

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Understanding the stoichiometric traits of plants is critical for studying their ecological adaptation strategies. Facultative epiphytes (which can also live on the ground) are an important component of epiphytic flora of montane forest ecosystems. However, a key gap persists in our understanding how facultative epiphytes can adapt different nutritional conditions of ground and canopy habitats? To study adaptive strategies of facultative epiphytes and the characteristics of the content and stoichiometric homeostasis of C, N, and P elements, we conducted a field experiment and a greenhouse N and P additions cultivation experiment. We found that epiphytic individuals of facultative epiphytes showed lower C:N and C:P ratios, higher variation in elemental composition, and more pronounced N limitation than terrestrial individuals. Moreover, facultative epiphytes showed strong control over the elemental composition of leaves, and their stoichiometric homeostasis of leaves and stems were stronger than roots. Furthermore, the homeostasis of facultative epiphytes decreased in the order N > P. Our results indicated that epiphytic and terrestrial individuals of facultative epiphytes have difference in nutrient limitation, and they use plastic strategies in different habitats. Epiphytic individuals survive in the intermittent habitat through luxury consumption of nutrient while terrestrial individuals were relatively conservative nutrient users. Furthermore, our results implied that facultative epiphytes maintain stable metabolic leaf activity via variable element concentrations of roots to adapt to highly heterogeneous forest habitats.

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Accidental epiphytes: Ecological insights and evolutionary implications

Hoeber

Zotz

2022

Ecological Monographs

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Vascular epiphytes are an important component of many ecosystems and constitute a substantial part of global plant diversity. In this context, accidental epiphytism, that is, the opportunistic epiphytic growth of typically terrestrial species, deserves special attention because it provides crucial insights into the global distribution of vascular epiphytes and the initial evolution of epiphytic lineages. Even though accidental epiphytes have been mentioned in the literature for more than a century, they have been neglected in most epiphyte studies. Only recently has accidental epiphytism been investigated more thoroughly. Therefore, the aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of the ecological basis and evolutionary relevance of this common but largely neglected phenomenon and to highlight open questions and promising research directions. Our central statement—that any species has the potential to grow epiphytically given the availability of suitable microhabitats and successful dispersal—is backed up by a compilation of observations of accidental epiphytes from numerous ecosystems with diverse climates, even including semiarid Mediterranean ones. A variety of arboreal microhabitats and environmental conditions conform to the ecological niche of typical terrestrial species, with the availability of such microhabitats depending on the interaction of local climate conditions, host tree age, and host species identity. Whenever suitable microhabitats are available in tree crowns, accidental epiphytism is limited primarily by dispersal. In an evolutionary context, the conquest of forest canopy represents an ecological opportunity where accidental epiphytes act as links between terrestrial and epiphytic life forms. We discuss two fundamental scenarios with sympatric speciation, selective pressure, autopolyploidy, and allopatric speciation as underlying mechanisms in the transition from terrestrial to epiphytic growth. In conclusion, we argue that accidental epiphytism is a substrate and dispersal‐dependent phenomenon and that, both from an individual perspective and an evolutionary perspective, epiphytism reflects the occupation of suitable but previously unexploited arboreal microhabitats. Acknowledging the fundamental principles that plant growth is opportunistic and that dispersal is a stochastic process can decisively improve our understanding of species distributions and other ecological patterns, as in the case of accidental epiphytism.

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Water-spender strategy is linked to higher leaf nutrient concentrations across plant species colonizing a dry and nutrient-poor epiphytic habitat

Cited by 30 publications

References 66 publications

Shoot Characterization of Isoprene and Ocimene-Emitting Transgenic Arabidopsis Plants under Contrasting Environmental Conditions

Shoot Characterization of Isoprene and Ocimene-Emitting Transgenic Arabidopsis Plants under Contrasting Environmental Conditions

Divergent Adaptation Strategies of Vascular Facultative Epiphytes to Bark and Soil Habitats: Insights from Stoichiometry

Accidental epiphytes: Ecological insights and evolutionary implications

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