Dynamics of non-structural carbohydrates in three Mediterranean woody species following long-term experimental drought
Rosas, Teresa (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Galiano, Lucía (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Ogaya Inurrigarro, Romà (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Peñuelas, Josep (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Martínez Vilalta, Jordi, 1975- (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)

Date:	2013
Abstract:	Stored non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) have been proposed as a key determinant of drought resistance in plants. However, the evidence for this role is controversial, as it comes mostly from observational, short-term studies. Here, we take advantage of a long-term experimental throughfall reduction to elucidate the response of NSC to increased drought 14 years after the beginning of the treatment in three Mediterranean resprouter trees (Quercus ilex L. , Arbutus unedo L. and Phillyrea latifolia L. ). In addition, we selected 20 Q. ilex individuals outside the experimental plots to directly assess the relationship between defoliation and NSC at the individual level. We measured the seasonal course of NSC concentrations in leaves, branches and lignotuber in late winter, late spring, summer, and autumn 2012. Total concentrations of NSC were highest in the lignotuber for all species. In the long-term drought experiment we found significant depletion in concentrations of total NSC in treatment plots only in the lignotuber of A. unedo. At the same time, A. unedo was the only species showing a significant reduction in BAI under the drought treatment during the 14 years of the experiment. By contrast, Q. ilex just reduced stem growth only during the first 4 years of treatment and P. latifolia remained unaffected over the whole study period. However, we found a clear association between the concentrations of NSC and defoliation in Q. ilex individuals sampled outside the experimental plots, with lower total concentrations of NSC and lower proportion of starch in defoliated individuals. Taken together, our results suggest that stabilizing processes, probably at the stand level, may have been operating in the long-term to mitigate any impact of drought on NSC levels, and highlight the necessity to incorporate long-term experimental studies of plant responses to drought.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL2010-16373 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL2010-17172 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CSD2008-00040 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2009/SGR-458
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Drought ; Crown condition ; Growth ; Long-term ; Non-structural carbohydrates ; Starch ; Throughfall manipulation
Published in:	Frontiers in plant science, Vol. 4, article 400 (Oct. 2013) , p. 1-16, ISSN 1664-462X

DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2013.00400
PMID: 24130568

16 p, 1.4 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles