J Plant Ecol ›› 2022, Vol. 15 ›› Issue (4): 795-807 .DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtab116

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Adaptive plasticity in response to light and nutrient availability in the clonal plant Duchesnea indica

Mo-Zhu Wang1,2,3, Hong-Li Li2, Chun-Xiang Liu2, Bi-Cheng Dong2, and Fei-Hai Yu1,2,*   

  1. 1 Institute of Wetland Ecology & Clone Ecology; Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, China, 2 School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China, 3 State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China

    *Corresponding author. E-mail: feihaiyu@126.com
  • Received:2020-12-28 Revised:2021-07-18 Accepted:2021-09-19 Online:2021-10-02 Published:2022-08-01

Abstract:

Phenotypic plasticity enables plants to buffer against environmental stresses and match their phenotypes to local conditions. However, consistent conclusive evidence for adaptive plasticity has only been obtained for a few traits. More studies on a wider variety of plant functional traits and environmental factors are still needed to further understand the adaptive significance of plasticity. We grew 21 genotypes of the stoloniferous clonal plant Duchesnea indica under different light and nutrient conditions, and used selection gradient analyses to test the adaptive value (benefits) of morphological and physiological plasticity responding to variation in light and nutrient availability. Plants grown in shade exhibited lower values for fitness measures (fruit number, ramet number and biomass), shortened thinner internode length and decreased adult leaf chlorophyll content, but higher petiole length, specific leaf area and old leaf chlorophyll content, than plants grown without shade. Plants grown in the low nutrient condition had shorter petiole length, thicker and smaller leaf area, lower chlorophyll content, but higher fruit number and root:shoot ratio than plants grown under the high nutrient condition. Selection gradient analyses revealed that plasticity of petiole length and old leaf chlorophyll content in response to light variation was adaptive, and plasticity of old and adult leaf chlorophyll content in response to nutrient variation was adaptive. Therefore, the adaptive value of plasticity in different traits depends on the specific ecological context. Our findings contribute to understanding the adaptive significance of phenotypic plasticity of clonal plants in response to environmental variation.

Key words: adaptive plasticity, clonal plants, Duchesnea indica, stoloniferous plant, phenotypes

摘要:
克隆植物蛇莓对光照强度和养分条件的适应性可塑性
表型可塑性可帮助植物缓冲环境压力并使其表型与当地环境相匹配,但目前仅少数性状的可塑性被广泛认为是适应性的。为充分理解可塑性的适应性意义,仍需进一步研究更多的植物功能性状及其环境因子。本研究将匍匐茎克隆植物蛇莓(Duchesnea indica)的21个基因型种植于不同的光照和养分条件下,并利用选择梯度分析检测了形态和生理可塑性对光照强度和养分有效性变化的适应性值。在遮荫条件下,蛇莓适合度(果实数、分株数和生物量)降低,节间缩短变细,成熟叶叶绿素含量降低,但叶柄长度、比叶面积、老叶叶绿素含量均增加。在低养分条件下,植株叶柄缩短,叶面积缩小变厚,叶绿素含量降低,但果实数量和根冠比增加。选择梯度分析表明,叶柄长度和老叶叶绿素含量对光照变化的可塑性是适应性的,老叶和成熟叶叶绿素含量对养分变化的可塑性也是适应性的。因此,不同性状的可塑性适应值取决于特定的生态背景。该研究的发现有助于理解克隆植物表型可塑性响应环境变化的适应性意义。

关键词: 适应性可塑性, 克隆植物, 蛇莓(Duchesnea indica), 匍匐茎植物, 表型