Cargando…

Root condensed tannins vary over time, but are unrelated to leaf tannins

Although the negative effects of root herbivores on plant fitness are expected to be similar to those of above-ground herbivores, the study of below-ground plant defences is limited compared to the rich literature on above-ground defences. Current theory predicts that concentrations of defensive che...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dettlaff, Margarete A, Marshall, Valerie, Erbilgin, Nadir, Cahill, James F
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6070047/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30090221
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/ply044
_version_ 1783343612425142272
author Dettlaff, Margarete A
Marshall, Valerie
Erbilgin, Nadir
Cahill, James F
author_facet Dettlaff, Margarete A
Marshall, Valerie
Erbilgin, Nadir
Cahill, James F
author_sort Dettlaff, Margarete A
collection PubMed
description Although the negative effects of root herbivores on plant fitness are expected to be similar to those of above-ground herbivores, the study of below-ground plant defences is limited compared to the rich literature on above-ground defences. Current theory predicts that concentrations of defensive chemicals above- and below-ground should be correlated, as the evolutionary drivers that shape plant defence are similar across the whole plant. We conducted a field study to measure root condensed tannin concentrations in Populus tremuloides, and determine how they related to leaf condensed tannin concentrations, tree position within the stand (edge vs. interior), tree size, and time of year. Overall, root tannin concentrations were substantially lower than leaf tannin concentrations. At individual sampling periods, root and leaf tannin concentrations were uncorrelated with each other, and did not vary with stand position or size. Across the growing season both root and leaf tannin concentrations did show similar trends, with both highest in the early summer, and declining through mid-summer and fall. These results suggest that the mechanisms that influence leaf and root tannin levels in aspen are independent within individual stems, possibly due to different evolutionary pressures experienced by the different tissue types or in response to localized (roots vs. foliage) stressors. However, across individual stems, the similar patterns in chemical defence over time, independent of plant size or stand position indicate that larger scale processes can have consistent effects across individuals within a population, such as the relative investment in defence of tissues in the spring versus the fall. Overall, we conclude that using theories based on above-ground defence to predict below-ground defences may not be possible without further studies examining below-ground defence.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6070047
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher Oxford University Press
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-60700472018-08-08 Root condensed tannins vary over time, but are unrelated to leaf tannins Dettlaff, Margarete A Marshall, Valerie Erbilgin, Nadir Cahill, James F AoB Plants Research Articles Although the negative effects of root herbivores on plant fitness are expected to be similar to those of above-ground herbivores, the study of below-ground plant defences is limited compared to the rich literature on above-ground defences. Current theory predicts that concentrations of defensive chemicals above- and below-ground should be correlated, as the evolutionary drivers that shape plant defence are similar across the whole plant. We conducted a field study to measure root condensed tannin concentrations in Populus tremuloides, and determine how they related to leaf condensed tannin concentrations, tree position within the stand (edge vs. interior), tree size, and time of year. Overall, root tannin concentrations were substantially lower than leaf tannin concentrations. At individual sampling periods, root and leaf tannin concentrations were uncorrelated with each other, and did not vary with stand position or size. Across the growing season both root and leaf tannin concentrations did show similar trends, with both highest in the early summer, and declining through mid-summer and fall. These results suggest that the mechanisms that influence leaf and root tannin levels in aspen are independent within individual stems, possibly due to different evolutionary pressures experienced by the different tissue types or in response to localized (roots vs. foliage) stressors. However, across individual stems, the similar patterns in chemical defence over time, independent of plant size or stand position indicate that larger scale processes can have consistent effects across individuals within a population, such as the relative investment in defence of tissues in the spring versus the fall. Overall, we conclude that using theories based on above-ground defence to predict below-ground defences may not be possible without further studies examining below-ground defence. Oxford University Press 2018-07-23 /pmc/articles/PMC6070047/ /pubmed/30090221 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/ply044 Text en © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Dettlaff, Margarete A
Marshall, Valerie
Erbilgin, Nadir
Cahill, James F
Root condensed tannins vary over time, but are unrelated to leaf tannins
title Root condensed tannins vary over time, but are unrelated to leaf tannins
title_full Root condensed tannins vary over time, but are unrelated to leaf tannins
title_fullStr Root condensed tannins vary over time, but are unrelated to leaf tannins
title_full_unstemmed Root condensed tannins vary over time, but are unrelated to leaf tannins
title_short Root condensed tannins vary over time, but are unrelated to leaf tannins
title_sort root condensed tannins vary over time, but are unrelated to leaf tannins
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6070047/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30090221
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/ply044
work_keys_str_mv AT dettlaffmargaretea rootcondensedtanninsvaryovertimebutareunrelatedtoleaftannins
AT marshallvalerie rootcondensedtanninsvaryovertimebutareunrelatedtoleaftannins
AT erbilginnadir rootcondensedtanninsvaryovertimebutareunrelatedtoleaftannins
AT cahilljamesf rootcondensedtanninsvaryovertimebutareunrelatedtoleaftannins