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0000-0001-9900-2433
Current Organisations
Wageningen University & Research
,
Utrecht University
,
Forschungszentrum Jülich
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University of Groningen
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Macquarie University
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Publications
Dividing the pie: A quantitative review on plant density responses
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-12-2021
DOI: 10.1111/PCE.13968
Phenotyping Plants: genes, phenes and machines
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2012
DOI: 10.1071/FPV39N11_IN
Abstract: No matter how fascinating the discoveries in the field of molecular biology are, in the end it is the phenotype that matters. In this paper we pay attention to various aspects of plant phenotyping. The challenges to unravel the relationship between genotype and phenotype are discussed, as well as the case where ‘plants do not have a phenotype’. More emphasis has to be placed on automation to match the increased output in the molecular sciences with analysis of relevant traits under laboratory, greenhouse and field conditions. Currently, non-destructive measurements with cameras are becoming widely used to assess plant structural properties, but a wider range of non-invasive approaches and evaluation tools has to be developed to combine physiologically meaningful data with structural information of plants. Another field requiring major progress is the handling and processing of data. A better e-infrastructure will enable easier establishment of links between phenotypic traits and genetic data. In the final part of this paper we briefly introduce the range of contributions that form the core of a special issue of this journal on plant phenotyping.
Ecological Significance of Inherent Variation in Relative Growth Rate and Its Components
Publisher: CRC Press
Date: 20-06-2007
Causes and consequences of variation in leaf mass per area (LMA): a meta‐analysis
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-04-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-8137.2009.02830.X
Abstract: Here, we analysed a wide range of literature data on the leaf dry mass per unit area (LMA). In nature, LMA varies more than 100‐fold among species. Part of this variation ( c . 35%) can be ascribed to differences between functional groups, with evergreen species having the highest LMA, but most of the variation is within groups or biomes. When grown in the same controlled environment, leaf succulents and woody evergreen, perennial or slow‐growing species have inherently high LMA. Within most of the functional groups studied, high‐LMA species show higher leaf tissue densities. However, differences between evergreen and deciduous species result from larger volumes per area (thickness). Response curves constructed from experiments under controlled conditions showed that LMA varied strongly with light, temperature and submergence, moderately with CO 2 concentration and nutrient and water stress, and marginally under most other conditions. Functional groups differed in the plasticity of LMA to these gradients. The physiological regulation is still unclear, but the consequences of variation in LMA and the suite of traits interconnected with it are strong. This trait complex is an important factor determining the fitness of species in their environment and affects various ecosystem processes. Contents Summary 565 I. LMA in perspective 566 II. LMA in the field 567 III. Inherent differences 568 IV. Relation with anatomy and chemical composition 570 V. Environmental effects 572 VI. Differences in space and time 577 VII. Molecular regulation and physiology 579 VIII. Ecological consequences 580 IX. Conclusions and perspectives 582 Acknowledgements 582 References 582 Appendices 587
Exploring variation in leaf mass per area (LMA) from leaf to cell: an anatomical analysis of 26 woody species
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2013
DOI: 10.3732/AJB.1200562
Abstract: Plant species differ widely in the leaf biomass invested per unit area (LMA). LMA can be explained by variation in leaf thickness and/or density, both of which are influenced by anatomical tissue composition. The aim of this study is to quantify the anatomical characteristics that underlie variation in LMA in a range of woody species. • Twenty-six woody species, forming 13 species pairs with a deciduous and evergreen species from the same genus or family, were grown in a glasshouse. The youngest full-grown leaves were analyzed for LMA and morpho-anatomical characteristics at leaf, tissue, and cell level. • Considered over all species studied, leaf thickness and density were equally important to explain the variation in LMA, but the class difference between deciduous and evergreen species was mainly determined by thickness, whereas variation within each group was largely due to density. Evergreens had thicker leaves, predominantly caused by a larger volume of mesophyll and air spaces, whereas the higher leaf density within each group was due to a lower proportion of epidermis and air spaces, and overall smaller cells. • The anatomical basis for variation in LMA in woody species depends on the contrast made. Higher LMA in evergreens is mainly due to a greater leaf thickness, caused by a larger volume of mesophyll and air spaces. Within deciduous species and evergreens, higher LMA is caused by a higher density, due to higher volumetric fractions of mesophyll and lower fractions of air spaces and epidermis.
Ecological Significance of Inherent Variation in Relative Growth Rate and Its Components
Publisher: CRC Press
Date: 20-06-2007
Ethylene and Plant Growth
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Date: 2006
New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2013
DOI: 10.1071/BT12225
Abstract: Plant functional traits are the features (morphological, physiological, phenological) that represent ecological strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels and influence ecosystem properties. Variation in plant functional traits, and trait syndromes, has proven useful for tackling many important ecological questions at a range of scales, giving rise to a demand for standardised ways to measure ecologically meaningful plant traits. This line of research has been among the most fruitful avenues for understanding ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. It also has the potential both to build a predictive set of local, regional and global relationships between plants and environment and to quantify a wide range of natural and human-driven processes, including changes in bio ersity, the impacts of species invasions, alterations in biogeochemical processes and vegetation–atmosphere interactions. The importance of these topics dictates the urgent need for more and better data, and increases the value of standardised protocols for quantifying trait variation of different species, in particular for traits with power to predict plant- and ecosystem-level processes, and for traits that can be measured relatively easily. Updated and expanded from the widely used previous version, this handbook retains the focus on clearly presented, widely applicable, step-by-step recipes, with a minimum of text on theory, and not only includes updated methods for the traits previously covered, but also introduces many new protocols for further traits. This new handbook has a better balance between whole-plant traits, leaf traits, root and stem traits and regenerative traits, and puts particular emphasis on traits important for predicting species’ effects on key ecosystem properties. We hope this new handbook becomes a standard companion in local and global efforts to learn about the responses and impacts of different plant species with respect to environmental changes in the present, past and future.
Chemical composition of 24 wild species differing in relative growth rate
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-1992
Biomass allocation to leaves, stems and roots: Meta-analyses of interspecific variation and environmental control
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-11-2012
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-8137.2011.03952.X
Abstract: We quantified the biomass allocation patterns to leaves, stems and roots in vegetative plants, and how this is influenced by the growth environment, plant size, evolutionary history and competition. Dose–response curves of allocation were constructed by means of a meta‐analysis from a wide array of experimental data. They show that the fraction of whole‐plant mass represented by leaves (LMF) increases most strongly with nutrients and decreases most strongly with light. Correction for size‐induced allocation patterns diminishes the LMF‐response to light, but makes the effect of temperature on LMF more apparent. There is a clear phylogenetic effect on allocation, as eudicots invest relatively more than monocots in leaves, as do gymnosperms compared with woody angiosperms. Plants grown at high densities show a clear increase in the stem fraction. However, in most comparisons across species groups or environmental factors, the variation in LMF is smaller than the variation in one of the other components of the growth analysis equation: the leaf area : leaf mass ratio (SLA). In competitive situations, the stem mass fraction increases to a smaller extent than the specific stem length (stem length : stem mass). Thus, we conclude that plants generally are less able to adjust allocation than to alter organ morphology. Contents Summary 30 I. Allocation in perspective 31 II. Topics of this review 32 III. Methodology 32 IV. Environmental effects 33 V. Ontogeny 36 VI. Differences between species 40 VII. Physiology and molecular regulation 41 VIII. Ecological aspects 42 IX. Perspectives 45 Acknowledgements 45 References 45 Appendices A1–A4 49
The growth response of plants to elevated CO2 under non-optimal environmental conditions
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-2001
A meta‐analysis of responses of C3 plants to atmospheric CO2: dose–response curves for 85 traits ranging from the molecular to the whole‐plant level
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-11-2021
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.17802
Abstract: Generalised dose–response curves are essential to understand how plants acclimate to atmospheric CO 2 . We carried out a meta‐analysis of 630 experiments in which C 3 plants were experimentally grown at different [CO 2 ] under relatively benign conditions, and derived dose–response curves for 85 phenotypic traits. These curves were characterised by form, plasticity, consistency and reliability. Considered over a range of 200–1200 µmol mol −1 CO 2 , some traits more than doubled (e.g. area‐based photosynthesis intrinsic water‐use efficiency), whereas others more than halved (area‐based transpiration). At current atmospheric [CO 2 ], 64% of the total stimulation in biomass over the 200–1200 µmol mol −1 range has already been realised. We also mapped the trait responses of plants to [CO 2 ] against those we have quantified before for light intensity. For most traits, CO 2 and light responses were of similar direction. However, some traits (such as reproductive effort) only responded to light, others (such as plant height) only to [CO 2 ], and some traits (such as area‐based transpiration) responded in opposite directions. This synthesis provides a comprehensive picture of plant responses to [CO 2 ] at different integration levels and offers the quantitative dose–response curves that can be used to improve global change simulation models.
Interspecific variation in the growth response of plants to an elevated ambient CO2 concentration
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date: 1993
The global spectrum of plant form and function
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-12-2015
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE16489
Abstract: Earth is home to a remarkable ersity of plant forms and life histories, yet comparatively few essential trait combinations have proved evolutionarily viable in today's terrestrial biosphere. By analysing worldwide variation in six major traits critical to growth, survival and reproduction within the largest s le of vascular plant species ever compiled, we found that occupancy of six-dimensional trait space is strongly concentrated, indicating coordination and trade-offs. Three-quarters of trait variation is captured in a two-dimensional global spectrum of plant form and function. One major dimension within this plane reflects the size of whole plants and their parts the other represents the leaf economics spectrum, which balances leaf construction costs against growth potential. The global plant trait spectrum provides a backdrop for elucidating constraints on evolution, for functionally qualifying species and ecosystems, and for improving models that predict future vegetation based on continuous variation in plant form and function.
Pitfalls and possibilities in the analysis of biomass allocation patterns in plants
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 2012
Leaf nitrogen from the perspective of optimal plant function
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-2022
Abstract: Leaf dry mass per unit area (LMA), carboxylation capacity ( V cmax ) and leaf nitrogen per unit area (N area ) and mass (N mass ) are key traits for plant functional ecology and ecosystem modelling. There is however no consensus about how these traits are regulated, or how they should be modelled. Here we confirm that observed leaf nitrogen across species and sites can be estimated well from observed LMA and V cmax at 25°C ( V cmax25 ). We then test the hypothesis that global variations of both quantities depend on climate variables in specific ways that are predicted by leaf‐level optimality theory, thus allowing both N area to be predicted as functions of the growth environment. A new global compilation of field measurements was used to quantify the empirical relationships of leaf N to V cmax25 and LMA. Relationships of observed V cmax25 and LMA to climate variables were estimated, and compared to independent theoretical predictions of these relationships. Soil effects were assessed by analysing biases in the theoretical predictions. LMA was the most important predictor of N area (increasing) and N mass (decreasing). About 60% of global variation across species and sites in observed N area , and 31% in N mass , could be explained by observed LMA and V cmax25 . These traits, in turn, were quantitatively related to climate variables, with significant partial relationships similar or indistinguishable from those predicted by optimality theory. Predicted trait values explained 21% of global variation in observed site‐mean V cmax25 , 43% in LMA and 31% in N area . Predicted V cmax25 was biased low on clay‐rich soils but predicted LMA was biased high, with compensating effects on N area . N area was overpredicted on organic soils. Synthesis . Global patterns of variation in observed site‐mean N area can be explained by climate‐induced variations in optimal V cmax25 and LMA. Leaf nitrogen should accordingly be modelled as a consequence (not a cause) of V cmax25 and LMA, both being optimized to the environment. Nitrogen limitation of plant growth would then be modelled principally via whole‐plant carbon allocation, rather than via leaf‐level traits. Further research is required to better understand and model the terrestrial nitrogen and carbon cycles and their coupling.
The worldwide leaf economics spectrum
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-2004
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE02403
Global patterns of biomass allocation in woody species with different tolerances of shade and drought: evidence for multiple strategies
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-10-2020
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.16879
Abstract: The optimal partitioning theory predicts that plants of a given species acclimate to different environments by allocating a larger proportion of biomass to the organs acquiring the most limiting resource. Are similar patterns found across species adapted to environments with contrasting levels of abiotic stress? We tested the optimal partitioning theory by analysing how fractional biomass allocation to leaves, stems and roots differed between woody species with different tolerances of shade and drought in plants of different age and size (seedlings to mature trees) using a global dataset including 604 species. No overarching biomass allocation patterns at different tolerance values across species were found. Biomass allocation varied among functional types as a result of phenological (deciduous vs evergreen broad‐leaved species) and broad phylogenetical (angiosperms vs gymnosperms) differences. Furthermore, the direction of biomass allocation responses between tolerant and intolerant species was often opposite to that predicted by the optimal partitioning theory. We conclude that plant functional type is the major determinant of biomass allocation in woody species. We propose that interactions between plant functional type, ontogeny and species‐specific stress tolerance adaptations allow woody species with different shade and drought tolerances to display multiple biomass partitioning strategies.
Photosynthetic nitrogen-use efficiency of species that differ inherently in specific leaf area
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-08-1998
Plants cope with fluctuating light by frequency‐dependent nonphotochemical quenching and cyclic electron transport
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-07-2023
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.19083
Abstract: In natural environments, plants are exposed to rapidly changing light. Maintaining photosynthetic efficiency while avoiding photodamage requires equally rapid regulation of photoprotective mechanisms. We asked what the operation frequency range of regulation is in which plants can efficiently respond to varying light. Chlorophyll fluorescence, P700, plastocyanin, and ferredoxin responses of wild‐types Arabidopsis thaliana were measured in oscillating light of various frequencies. We also investigated the npq1 mutant lacking violaxanthin de‐epoxidase, the npq4 mutant lacking PsbS protein, and the mutants crr2‐2 , and pgrl1ab impaired in different pathways of the cyclic electron transport. The fastest was the PsbS‐regulation responding to oscillation periods longer than 10 s. Processes involving violaxanthin de‐epoxidase d ened changes in chlorophyll fluorescence in oscillation periods of 2 min or longer. Knocking out the PGR5/PGRL1 pathway strongly reduced variations of all monitored parameters, probably due to congestion in the electron transport. Incapacitating the NDH‐like pathway only slightly changed the photosynthetic dynamics. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that nonphotochemical quenching in slow light oscillations involves violaxanthin de‐epoxidase to produce, presumably, a largely stationary level of zeaxanthin. We interpret the observed dynamics of photosystem I components as being formed in slow light oscillations partially by thylakoid remodeling that modulates the redox rates.
The Fate of Acquired Carbon in Plants: Chemical Composition and Construction Costs
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 1997
Plant Growth and Carbon Economy
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-05-2002
How do leaf veins influence the worldwide leaf economic spectrum? Review and synthesis
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 10-2016
DOI: 10.1093/JXB/ERT316
Abstract: Leaf vein traits are implicated in the determination of gas exchange rates and plant performance. These traits are increasingly considered as causal factors affecting the 'leaf economic spectrum' (LES), which includes the light-saturated rate of photosynthesis, dark respiration, foliar nitrogen concentration, leaf dry mass per area (LMA) and leaf longevity. This article reviews the support for two contrasting hypotheses regarding a key vein trait, vein length per unit leaf area (VLA). Recently, Blonder et al. (2011, 2013) proposed that vein traits, including VLA, can be described as the 'origin' of the LES by structurally determining LMA and leaf thickness, and thereby vein traits would predict LES traits according to specific equations. Careful re-examination of leaf anatomy, published datasets, and a newly compiled global database for erse species did not support the 'vein origin' hypothesis, and moreover showed that the apparent power of those equations to predict LES traits arose from circularity. This review provides a 'flux trait network' hypothesis for the effects of vein traits on the LES and on plant performance, based on a synthesis of the previous literature. According to this hypothesis, VLA, while virtually independent of LMA, strongly influences hydraulic conductance, and thus stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rate. We also review (i) the specific physiological roles of VLA (ii) the role of leaf major veins in influencing LES traits and (iii) the role of VLA in determining photosynthetic rate per leaf dry mass and plant relative growth rate. A clear understanding of leaf vein traits provides a new perspective on plant function independently of the LES and can enhance the ability to explain and predict whole plant performance under dynamic conditions, with applications towards breeding improved crop varieties.
A method to construct dose–response curves for a wide range of environmental factors and plant traits by means of a meta-analysis of phenotypic data
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-01-2010
DOI: 10.1093/JXB/ERP358
Abstract: In the past, biologists have characterized the responses of a wide range of plant species to their environment. As a result, phenotypic data from hundreds of experiments are publicly available now. Unfortunately, this information is not structured in a way that enables quantitative and comparative analyses. We aim to fill this gap by building a large database which currently contains data on 1000 experiments and 800 species. This paper presents methodology to generalize across different experiments and species, taking the response of specific leaf area (SLA leaf area:leaf mass ratio) to irradiance as an ex le. We show how to construct and quantify a normalized mean light-response curve, and subsequently test whether there are systematic differences in the form of the curve between contrasting subgroups of species. This meta-analysis is then extended to a range of other environmental factors important for plant growth as well as other phenotypic traits, using >5300 mean values. The present approach, which we refer to as 'meta-phenomics', represents a valuable tool in understanding the integrated response of plants to their environment and could serve as a benchmark for future phenotyping efforts as well as for modelling global change effects on both wild species and crops.
Temperature drives global patterns in forest biomass distribution in leaves, stems, and roots
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 15-09-2014
Abstract: Do forests in cold or dry climate zones distribute more resources in roots to enhance uptake of water and nutrients, which are scarce in such climates? Despite its importance to forest ecology and global carbon cycle modeling, this question is unanswered at present. To answer this question, we compiled and analyzed a large dataset ( ,200 forests, 61 countries) and determined that the proportion of total forest biomass in roots is greater and in foliage is smaller in increasingly cold climates. Surprisingly, allocation to roots or foliage was unrelated to aridity. These findings allow, for the first time to our knowledge, biogeographically explicit mapping of global root carbon pools, which will be useful for assessing climate change impacts on forest carbon dynamics and sequestration.
TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-12-2019
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14904
Abstract: Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to bio ersity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on in idual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
How does biomass distribution change with size and differ among species? An analysis for 1200 plant species from five continents
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-07-2015
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.13571
Abstract: We compiled a global database for leaf, stem and root biomass representing c . 11 000 records for c . 1200 herbaceous and woody species grown under either controlled or field conditions. We used this data set to analyse allometric relationships and fractional biomass distribution to leaves, stems and roots. We tested whether allometric scaling exponents are generally constant across plant sizes as predicted by metabolic scaling theory, or whether instead they change dynamically with plant size. We also quantified interspecific variation in biomass distribution among plant families and functional groups. Across all species combined, leaf vs stem and leaf vs root scaling exponents decreased from c . 1.00 for small plants to c . 0.60 for the largest trees considered. Evergreens had substantially higher leaf mass fractions ( LMF s) than deciduous species, whereas graminoids maintained higher root mass fractions ( RMF s) than eudicotyledonous herbs. These patterns do not support the hypothesis of fixed allometric exponents. Rather, continuous shifts in allometric exponents with plant size during ontogeny and evolution are the norm. Across seed plants, variation in biomass distribution among species is related more to function than phylogeny. We propose that the higher LMF of evergreens at least partly compensates for their relatively low leaf area : leaf mass ratio.
Root traits as key proxies to unravel plant and ecosystem functioning: entities, trait selection and outlook
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 23-03-2020
DOI: 10.5194/EGUSPHERE-EGU2020-20261
Abstract: & & Root systems show a tremendous ersity both between and within species, suggesting a large variability in plant functioning and effects on ecosystem properties and processes. In recent decades, developments in many areas of root research have brought considerable advances in our understanding of root traits and their contribution to plant and ecosystem functioning. However, despite major progress, a comprehensive overview& #8212 bridging research fields& #8212 is lacking. Furthermore, considerable uncertainties exist in the identification of root entities, and the selection and standardized measurement of traits. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview on root entities, exemplify recent advances in our understanding of both theoretical and demonstrated relationships between root traits and plant or ecosystem functioning, discuss trait-trait relationships and hierarchies among traits, and critically assess current strengths and gaps in our knowledge.& &
Plasticity as a plastic response: how submergence-induced leaf elongation in Rumex palustris depends on light and nutrient availability in its early life stage
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-02-2012
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-8137.2012.04075.X
Abstract: Plants may experience different environmental cues throughout their development which interact in determining their phenotype. This paper tests the hypothesis that environmental conditions experienced early during ontogeny affect the phenotypic response to subsequent environmental cues. This hypothesis was tested by exposing different accessions of Rumex palustris to different light and nutrient conditions, followed by subsequent complete submergence. Final leaf length and submergence-induced plasticity were affected by the environmental conditions experienced at early developmental stages. In developmentally older leaves, submergence-induced elongation was lower in plants previously subjected to high-light conditions. Submergence-induced elongation of developmentally younger leaves, however, was larger when pregrown in high light. High-light and low-nutrient conditions led to an increase of nonstructural carbohydrates in the plants. There was a positive correlation between submergence-induced leaf elongation and carbohydrate concentration and content in roots and shoots, but not with root and shoot biomass before submergence. These results show that conditions experienced by young plants modulate the responses to subsequent environmental conditions, in both magnitude and direction. Internal resource status interacts with cues perceived at different developmental stages in determining plastic responses to the environment.
Stomatal conductance tracks soil-to-leaf hydraulic conductance in faba bean and maize during soil drying
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 13-09-2022
Abstract: Although regulation of stomatal conductance is widely assumed to be the most important plant response to soil drying, the picture is incomplete when hydraulic conductance from soil to the leaf, upstream of the stomata, is not considered. Here, we investigated to what extent soil drying reduces the conductance between soil and leaf, whether this reduction differs between species, how it affects stomatal regulation, and where in the hydraulic pathway it occurs. To this end, we noninvasively and continuously measured the total root water uptake rate, soil water potential, leaf water potential, and stomatal conductance of 4-week-old, pot-grown maize (Zea mays) and faba bean (Vicia faba) plants during 4 days of water restriction. In both species, the soil–plant conductance, excluding stomatal conductance, declined exponentially with soil drying and was reduced to 50% above a soil water potential of −0.1 MPa, which is far from the permanent wilting point. This loss of conductance has immediate consequences for leaf water potential and the associated stomatal regulation. Both stomatal conductance and soil–plant conductance declined at a higher rate in faba bean than in maize. Estimations of the water potential at the root surface and an incomplete recovery 22 h after rewatering indicate that the loss of conductance, at least partly, occurred inside the plants, for ex le, through root suberization or altered aquaporin gene expression. Our findings suggest that differences in the stomatal sensitivity among plant species are partly explained by the sensitivity of root hydraulic conductance to soil drying.
META-PHENOMICS, HORTICULTURE AND THE VALUE OF PLANT TRAIT DATABASES
Publisher: International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS)
Date: 10-2012
The art of growing plants for experimental purposes: a practical guide for the plant biologist
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2012
DOI: 10.1071/FP12028
Abstract: Every year thousands of experiments are conducted using plants grown under more-or-less controlled environmental conditions. The aim of many such experiments is to compare the phenotype of different species or genotypes in a specific environment, or to study plant performance under a range of suboptimal conditions. Our paper aims to bring together the minimum knowledge necessary for a plant biologist to set up such experiments and apply the environmental conditions that are appropriate to answer the questions of interest. We first focus on the basic choices that have to be made with regard to the experimental setup (e.g. where are the plants grown what rooting medium what pot size). Second, we present practical considerations concerning the number of plants that have to be analysed considering the variability in plant material and the required precision. Third, we discuss eight of the most important environmental factors for plant growth (light quantity, light quality, CO2, nutrients, air humidity, water, temperature and salinity) what critical issues should be taken into account to ensure proper growth conditions in controlled environments and which specific aspects need attention if plants are challenged with a certain a-biotic stress factor. Finally, we propose a simple checklist that could be used for tracking and reporting experimental conditions.
A starting guide to root ecology: strengthening ecological concepts and standardising root classification, sampling, processing and trait measurements
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-10-2021
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.17572
Abstract: In the context of a recent massive increase in research on plant root functions and their impact on the environment, root ecologists currently face many important challenges to keep on generating cutting‐edge, meaningful and integrated knowledge. Consideration of the below‐ground components in plant and ecosystem studies has been consistently called for in recent decades, but methodology is disparate and sometimes inappropriate. This handbook, based on the collective effort of a large team of experts, will improve trait comparisons across studies and integration of information across databases by providing standardised methods and controlled vocabularies. It is meant to be used not only as starting point by students and scientists who desire working on below‐ground ecosystems, but also by experts for consolidating and broadening their views on multiple aspects of root ecology. Beyond the classical compilation of measurement protocols, we have synthesised recommendations from the literature to provide key background knowledge useful for: (1) defining below‐ground plant entities and giving keys for their meaningful dissection, classification and naming beyond the classical fine‐root vs coarse‐root approach (2) considering the specificity of root research to produce sound laboratory and field data (3) describing typical, but overlooked steps for studying roots (e.g. root handling, cleaning and storage) and (4) gathering metadata necessary for the interpretation of results and their reuse. Most importantly, all root traits have been introduced with some degree of ecological context that will be a foundation for understanding their ecological meaning, their typical use and uncertainties, and some methodological and conceptual perspectives for future research. Considering all of this, we urge readers not to solely extract protocol recommendations for trait measurements from this work, but to take a moment to read and reflect on the extensive information contained in this broader guide to root ecology, including sections I–VII and the many introductions to each section and root trait description. Finally, it is critical to understand that a major aim of this guide is to help break down barriers between the many subdisciplines of root ecology and ecophysiology, broaden researchers’ views on the multiple aspects of root study and create favourable conditions for the inception of comprehensive experiments on the role of roots in plant and ecosystem functioning.
Modelling the structural changes in vegetation under different grazing regimes
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date: 1987
A meta-analysis of plant responses to light intensity for 70 traits ranging from molecules to whole plant performance.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-04-2019
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.15754
Abstract: By means of meta-analyses we determined how 70 traits related to plant anatomy, morphology, chemistry, physiology, growth and reproduction are affected by daily light integral (DLI mol photons m
The effects of nutrient fertilization on growth, biomass allocation, and anatomy of maize plants
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-1996
Fame, glory and neglect in meta-analyses
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2011
Root traits as drivers of plant and ecosystem functioning: current understanding, pitfalls and future research needs
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-01-2021
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.17072
Abstract: The effects of plants on the biosphere, atmosphere and geosphere are key determinants of terrestrial ecosystem functioning. However, despite substantial progress made regarding plant belowground components, we are still only beginning to explore the complex relationships between root traits and functions. Drawing on the literature in plant physiology, ecophysiology, ecology, agronomy and soil science, we reviewed 24 aspects of plant and ecosystem functioning and their relationships with a number of root system traits, including aspects of architecture, physiology, morphology, anatomy, chemistry, biomechanics and biotic interactions. Based on this assessment, we critically evaluated the current strengths and gaps in our knowledge, and identify future research challenges in the field of root ecology. Most importantly, we found that belowground traits with the broadest importance in plant and ecosystem functioning are not those most commonly measured. Also, the estimation of trait relative importance for functioning requires us to consider a more comprehensive range of functionally relevant traits from a erse range of species, across environments and over time series. We also advocate that establishing causal hierarchical links among root traits will provide a hypothesis‐based framework to identify the most parsimonious sets of traits with the strongest links on functions, and to link genotypes to plant and ecosystem functioning.
An integrated framework of plant form and function: the belowground perspective
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-07-2021
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.17590
Abstract: Plant trait variation drives plant function, community composition and ecosystem processes. However, our current understanding of trait variation disproportionately relies on aboveground observations. Here we integrate root traits into the global framework of plant form and function. We developed and tested an overarching conceptual framework that integrates two recently identified root trait gradients with a well‐established aboveground plant trait framework. We confronted our novel framework with published relationships between above‐ and belowground trait analogues and with multivariate analyses of above‐ and belowground traits of 2510 species. Our traits represent the leaf and root conservation gradients (specific leaf area, leaf and root nitrogen concentration, and root tissue density), the root collaboration gradient (root diameter and specific root length) and the plant size gradient (plant height and rooting depth). We found that an integrated, whole‐plant trait space required as much as four axes. The two main axes represented the fast–slow ‘conservation’ gradient on which leaf and fine‐root traits were well aligned, and the ‘collaboration’ gradient in roots. The two additional axes were separate, orthogonal plant size axes for height and rooting depth. This perspective on the multidimensional nature of plant trait variation better encompasses plant function and influence on the surrounding environment.
Plants cope with fluctuating light by frequency-dependent non-photochemical quenching and cyclic electron transport
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 10-02-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.02.09.479783
Abstract: In natural environments, plants are exposed to rapidly changing light. Maintaining photosynthetic efficiency while avoiding photodamage requires equally rapid regulation of photoprotective mechanisms. We asked what the operation frequency range of regulation is in which plants can efficiently respond to varying light. Chlorophyll fluorescence, P700, plastocyanin, and ferredoxin responses of wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana were measured in oscillating light of various frequencies. We also investigated the npq1 mutant lacking violaxanthin de-epoxidase, the npq4 mutant lacking PsbS-protein, and the mutants crr2-2 , and pgrl1ab impaired in different pathways of the cyclic electron transport. The fastest was the PsbS-regulation responding to oscillation periods longer than 10s. Processes involving violaxanthin de-epoxidase d ened changes of chlorophyll fluorescence in oscillation periods of 2min or longer. Knocking out the PGRL1-PGR5 pathway strongly reduced variations of all monitored parameters, probably due to congestion in the electron transport. Incapacitating the NDH-like pathway only slightly changed the photosynthetic dynamics. Our observations are consistent with the assumption that non-photochemical quenching in slow light oscillations involves violaxanthin de-epoxidase to produce, presumably, a stationary, non-oscillating level of zeaxanthin. We interpret the observed dynamics of Photosystem I components as being formed in slow light oscillations partially by thylakoid remodeling that modulates the redox rates.
Biomass allocation strategies shaping woody species adaptations to shade and drought
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 03-03-2021
DOI: 10.5194/EGUSPHERE-EGU21-676
Abstract: & & Optimal partitioning theory predicts that plants allocate a greater proportion of biomass to the organs acquiring the most limiting resource when different environments challenge a given species (acclimation). Results are disputed when testing how biomass allocation patterns among species with contrasting tolerance of abiotic stress factors (adaptation) conform to optimal partitioning theory.& & & & We tested the optimal partitioning theory by analyzing the relationships of proportional biomass allocation to leaves, stems and roots with species tolerance of shade and drought at a global scale including ~7000 observations for 604 woody species. The dataset spanned three plant functional types. In order to correct for ontogeny, differences among plant functional types at different levels of shade and drought tolerance were evaluated at three ontogenetic stages: seedlings, small trees and big trees. Adaptation and acclimation responses were also compared.& & & & We did not find overarching biomass allocation patterns at different tolerance values across species even if tolerant and intolerant species rarely overlapped in the trait space. Biomass allocation mainly varied among plant functional types due to phenological (deciduous vs. evergreen broad-leaved species) and broad phylogenetical (angiosperms vs. gymnosperms) differences. Furthermore, the direction of biomass allocation responses between tolerant and intolerant species was often opposite compared to that predicted by the optimal partitioning theory.& & & & Plant functional type is the major determinant of biomass allocation patterns in woody species at the global scale. Finally, interactions between ontogeny, plant functional type, species-specific stress tolerance& strong& & /strong& adaptations (i.e. changes in organs surface area per unit dry mass), phenotypic plasticity or convergence in plant architecture can alter biomass allocation differences. All these factors permit woody species with different shade and drought tolerances to display multiple biomass partitioning strategies.& &
Testing differences in relative growth rate: A method avoiding curve fitting and pairing
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-1986
Interspecific variation in the growth response of plants to an elevated ambient CO2 concentration
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 1993
DOI: 10.1007/BF00048146
The effects of phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation on forecasts of species range shifts under climate change
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-09-2014
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.12348
Abstract: Species are the unit of analysis in many global change and conservation biology studies however, species are not uniform entities but are composed of different, sometimes locally adapted, populations differing in plasticity. We examined how intraspecific variation in thermal niches and phenotypic plasticity will affect species distributions in a warming climate. We first developed a conceptual model linking plasticity and niche breadth, providing five alternative intraspecific scenarios that are consistent with existing literature. Secondly, we used ecological niche-modeling techniques to quantify the impact of each intraspecific scenario on the distribution of a virtual species across a geographically realistic setting. Finally, we performed an analogous modeling exercise using real data on the climatic niches of different tree provenances. We show that when population differentiation is accounted for and dispersal is restricted, forecasts of species range shifts under climate change are even more pessimistic than those using the conventional assumption of homogeneously high plasticity across a species' range. Suitable population-level data are not available for most species so identifying general patterns of population differentiation could fill this gap. However, the literature review revealed contrasting patterns among species, urging greater levels of integration among empirical, modeling and theoretical research on intraspecific phenotypic variation.
Blue light dose-responses of leaf photosynthesis, morphology, and chemical composition of Cucumis sativus grown under different combinations of red and blue light
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 26-05-2010
DOI: 10.1093/JXB/ERQ132
Desmoplastic neurotropic melanoma
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-11-2008
DOI: 10.1002/CNCR.23895
Abstract: Several studies have suggested that desmoplastic neurotropic melanoma (DNM) is associated with higher local recurrence rates than other types of melanoma. The authors investigated the local recurrence rates for patients with DNM after surgery alone or surgery followed by radiotherapy (RT). One hundred twenty-eight patients with DNM were treated at the Sydney Melanoma Unit and the Sydney Cancer Center from 1996 to 2007. All patients underwent local excision, 27 patients also received RT. For both groups, clinical and pathologic features, treatment details, and local recurrence data were analyzed. The median age at diagnosis was 65.5 years. The ratio of men to women was 2.7:1. The head and neck was the most common location (51%). The median Breslow thickness was 4 mm, and 99% of patients had Clark Level IV or V primary tumors. Patients who received adjuvant RT had thicker tumors (P = .003), deeper Clark level invasion (P < .001), and narrower excision margins (P < .001). There were 8 local recurrences, including 6 (6%) in the surgery only group and 2 (7%) in the adjuvant RT group. A positive margin (P < .001) and head and neck location (P = .03) were significant predictors of local recurrence. The local recurrence rate in this series was lower than the rates reported in historic control groups and in the authors' previous temporal cohort. The results indicated that clear surgical margins are of paramount importance in minimizing local recurrence when margins are compromised, the addition of RT may reduce local recurrence rates compared with historic controls. A prospective randomized trial is needed to quantify the risk reduction with adjuvant RT.
MetaPhenomics: quantifying the many ways plants respond to their abiotic environment, using light intensity as an example
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-05-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11104-022-05391-8
Abstract: Thousands of scientific papers have described how plants responded to different levels of a given environmental factor, for a wide variety of physiological processes and morphological, anatomical or chemical characteristics. There is a clear need to summarize this information in a structured and comparable way through meta-analysis. This paper describes how to use relative trait responses from many independent experiments to create generalized dose-response curves. By applying the same methodology to a wide range of plant traits, varying from the molecular to the whole plant level, we can achieve an unprecedented view on the many ways that plants are affected by and acclimate to their environment. We illustrate this approach, which we refer to as ‘MetaPhenomics’, with a variety of previously published and unpublished dose-response curves of the effect of light intensity on 25 plant traits. Furthermore, we discuss the need and difficulties to expand this approach to the transcriptomics and metabolomics level, and show how the generalized dose-response curves can be used to improve simulation models as well as the communication between modelers and experimental plant biologists.
Endogenous Abscisic Acid as a Key Switch for Natural Variation in Flooding-Induced Shoot Elongation
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 10-08-2010
Abstract: Elongation of leaves and stem is a key trait for survival of terrestrial plants during shallow but prolonged floods that completely submerge the shoot. However, natural floods at different locations vary strongly in duration and depth, and, therefore, populations from these locations are subjected to different selection pressure, leading to intraspecific variation. Here, we identified the signal transduction component that causes response variation in shoot elongation among two accessions of the wetland plant Rumex palustris. These accessions differed 2-fold in petiole elongation rates upon submergence, with fast elongation found in a population from a river floodplain and slow elongation in plants from a lake bank. Fast petiole elongation under water consumes carbohydrates and depends on the (inter)action of the plant hormones ethylene, abscisic acid, and gibberellic acid. We found that carbohydrate levels and dynamics in shoots did not differ between the fast and slow elongating plants, but that the level of ethylene-regulated abscisic acid in petioles, and hence gibberellic acid responsiveness of these petioles explained the difference in shoot elongation upon submergence. Since this is the exact signal transduction level that also explains the variation in flooding-induced shoot elongation among plant species (namely, R. palustris and Rumex acetosa), we suggest that natural selection results in similar modification of regulatory pathways within and between species.
Using log-log scaling slope analysis for determining the contributions to variability in biological variables such as leaf mass per area: why it works, when it works and how it can be extended
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-01-2011
Leaf area ratio and net assimilation rate of 24 wild species differing in relative growth rate
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-1990
DOI: 10.1007/BF00317209
Corrections for rooting volume and plant size reveal negative effects of neighbour presence on root allocation in peaplant
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-04-2015
Leaf mass per area is independent of vein length per area: avoiding pitfalls when modelling phenotypic integration (reply to Blonder et al. 2014)
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 12-08-2014
DOI: 10.1093/JXB/ERU305
Physiological mechanisms inplant growth models: do we need a supra-cellular systems biology approach?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-06-2013
DOI: 10.1111/PCE.12123
Abstract: In the first part of this paper, we review the extent to which various types of plant growth models incorporate ecophysiological mechanisms. Many growth models have a central role for the process of photosynthesis and often implicitly assume C-gain to be the rate-limiting step for biomass accumulation. We subsequently explore the extent to which this assumption actually holds and under what condition constraints on growth due to a limited sink strength are likely to occur. By using generalized dose-response curves for growth with respect to light and CO₂, models can be tested against a benchmark for their overall performance. In the final part, a call for a systems approach at the supra-cellular level is made. This will enable a better understanding of feedbacks and trade-offs acting on plant growth and its component processes. Mechanistic growth models form an indispensable element of such an approach and will, in the end, provide the link with the (sub-)cellular approaches that are yet developing. Improved insight will be gained if model output for the various physiological processes and morphological variables ('virtual profiling') is compared with measured correlation networks among these processes and variables. Two ex les of these correlation networks are presented.
Plant growth analysis: an evaluation of experimental design and computational methods
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 1996
The effect of irradiance on the carbon balance and tissue characteristics of five herbaceous species differing in shade-tolerance
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 2014
Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-12-2015
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE16476
Abstract: Phenotypic traits and their associated trade-offs have been shown to have globally consistent effects on in idual plant physiological functions, but how these effects scale up to influence competition, a key driver of community assembly in terrestrial vegetation, has remained unclear. Here we use growth data from more than 3 million trees in over 140,000 plots across the world to show how three key functional traits--wood density, specific leaf area and maximum height--consistently influence competitive interactions. Fast maximum growth of a species was correlated negatively with its wood density in all biomes, and positively with its specific leaf area in most biomes. Low wood density was also correlated with a low ability to tolerate competition and a low competitive effect on neighbours, while high specific leaf area was correlated with a low competitive effect. Thus, traits generate trade-offs between performance with competition versus performance without competition, a fundamental ingredient in the classical hypothesis that the coexistence of plant species is enabled via differentiation in their successional strategies. Competition within species was stronger than between species, but an increase in trait dissimilarity between species had little influence in weakening competition. No benefit of dissimilarity was detected for specific leaf area or wood density, and only a weak benefit for maximum height. Our trait-based approach to modelling competition makes generalization possible across the forest ecosystems of the world and their highly erse species composition.
Avoiding Bias in Calculations of Relative Growth Rate
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-2002
DOI: 10.1093/AOB/MCF140
Connecting the Green and Brown Worlds
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2013
The limits to leaf and root plasticity: what is so special about specific root length?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-05-2015
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.13438
Trait correlation networks: a whole-plant perspective on the recently criticized leaf economic spectrum
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-10-2014
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.12547
Energizing marginal soils – The establishment of the energy crop Sida hermaphrodita as dependent on digestate fertilization, NPK, and legume intercropping
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2016
Leaf nitrogen productivity is the major factor behind the growth reduction induced by long-term salt stress
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 2011
Abstract: Plant growth response to salinity on a scale of years has not been studied in terms of growth analysis. To gain insights into this topic, 2-year-old Mediterranean Fan Palm (Chamaerops humilis L.) and Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtonia robusta H. Wendl) seedlings, each with its own distinct plant morphology, were grown for 2 years in a peat soil and irrigated with water of 2 dS m(-1) (control) or 8 dS m(-1) (saline). Plants were harvested on seven occasions and the time trends in relative growth rate (RGR, the rate of increase of biomass per unit of biomass already existing) and its components were analysed. In the long term, salinity produced a slight reduction in the mean RGR, values in both species. In the short term, salinity caused a reduction in RGR. However, during the second year, plants irrigated with 8 dS m(-1) grew somewhat more quickly than the control plants, probably as a result of delay in the growth kinetics due to salinity. Regarding RGR components, leaf nitrogen productivity (the rate of biomass gain per unit leaf N and time) was the major factor causing the differences in RGR resulting from salinity. Washingtonia robusta showed a relatively high plasticity in plant morphology by increasing root and decreasing stem biomass allocation in the presence of salinity. However, the long-term response of W. robusta to salinity, based to a great extent, on this morphological plasticity, was less effective than that of C. humilis, which is based mainly on the contribution of leaf N to RGR values.
Pot size matters: a meta-analysis of the effects of rooting volume on plant growth
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2012
DOI: 10.1071/FP12049
Abstract: The majority of experiments in plant biology use plants grown in some kind of container or pot. We conducted a meta-analysis on 65 studies that analysed the effect of pot size on growth and underlying variables. On average, a doubling of the pot size increased biomass production by 43%. Further analysis of pot size effects on the underlying components of growth suggests that reduced growth in smaller pots is caused mainly by a reduction in photosynthesis per unit leaf area, rather than by changes in leaf morphology or biomass allocation. The appropriate pot size will logically depend on the size of the plants growing in them. Based on various lines of evidence we suggest that an appropriate pot size is one in which the plant biomass does not exceed 1 g L–1. In current research practice ~65% of the experiments exceed that threshold. We suggest that researchers need to carefully consider the pot size in their experiments, as small pots may change experimental results and defy the purpose of the experiment.
Resource limitation, tolerance,and the future of ecological plant classification
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 2012
Enabling reusability of plant phenomic datasets with MIAPPE 1.1
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-04-2020
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.16544
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