AOBPreview originally published online on November 3, 2006
Annals of Botany 2007 99(1):121-130; doi:10.1093/aob/mcl230
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The Effects of Mechanical Stress and Spectral Shading on the Growth and Allocation of Ten Genotypes of a Stoloniferous Plant
1 Section Plant Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, PO Box 800·84, 3508 TB, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2 College of Resources and Environment; The Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region (Ministry of Education) Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China
3 Department of Ecology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, 6525ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands
* For correspondence. E-mail N.Anten{at}bio.uu.nl
Received: 20 June 2006 Returned for revision: 3 August 2006 Accepted: 7 September 2006 Published electronically: 3 November 2006
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Because plants protect each other from wind, stand density affects both the light climate and the amount of mechanical stress experienced by plants. But the potential interactive effects of mechanical stress and canopy shading on plant growth have rarely been investigated and never in stoloniferous plants which, due to their creeping growth form, can be expected to respond differently to these factors than erect plants.
METHODS: Plants of ten genotypes of the stoloniferous species Potentilla reptans were subjected to two levels of mechanical stress (0 or 40 daily flexures) and two levels of spectral shading (15 % of daylight with a red:far red ratio of 0·3 vs. 50 % daylight and a red:far red ratio of 1·2).
KEY RESULTS: Mechanically stressed plants produced more leaves with shorter more flexible petioles, more roots, and more but less massive stolons. Responses to spectral shading were mostly in the opposite direction to thigmomorphogenesis, including the production of thinner, taller petioles made of more rigid tissue. The degree of thigmomorphogenesis was either independent of light climate or stimulated by spectral shading. At the genotypic level there were no clear correlations between responses to shade and mechanical stress.
CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that in stoloniferous plants mechanical stress results in clones with a more compact, shorter shoot structure and more roots. This response does not appear to be suppressed by canopy shading, which suggests that wind shielding (reduced mechanical stress) by neighbours in dense vegetation serves as a cue that induces shade avoidance responses such as increased petiole elongation.
Key words: Allometry, biomechanics, clonal plants, phenotypic plasticity, Potentilla reptans, thigmomorphogenesis, shade avoidance, Young's modulus
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