How does long-term drought acclimation modify structure-function relationships? A quantitative approach to leaf phenotypic plasticity of barley
P. Bresta A C , D. Nikolopoulos A , V. Stavroulaki A , P. Vahamidis B , G. Economou B and G. Karabourniotis A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A ALaboratory of Plant Physiology, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, Votanikos, 11855 Athens, Greece.
B BLaboratory of Agronomy, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, Votanikos, 11855 Athens, Greece.
C CCorresponding author. Email: brestapan@aua.gr
Functional Plant Biology 45(12) 1181-1194 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP17283
Submitted: 10 October 2017 Accepted: 14 June 2018 Published: 2 July 2018
Abstract
Under drought conditions the growth and survival of a plant depend on its adaptive characteristics and acclimation ability. Adaptation refers to inherent morpho-physiological characters providing protection against water losses. Acclimation, however, is a special case of phenotypic plasticity: environment-dependent phenotypic expression resulting to a ‘new’ phenotype through drought-induced modulations in leaf morphology, anatomy and physiology. Given that phenotypic plasticity influences environmental tolerance, a multi-trait plasticity index could be of great importance. Therefore, we examined the acclimation processes of three different barley genotypes using a multi-trait plasticity assessment with emphasis on the leaf water economy-related traits. Our results showed that (i) the structure–function co-ordination during long-term drought acclimation follows the trade-off between carbon gain and water saving as well as the competition between investments in photosynthesis vs synthesis of protective compounds; (ii) the genotypes with smaller leaf area, narrower and denser veins, as well as smaller and denser stomata i.e. traits providing tolerance, exhibited less drastic adjustments under stress conditions, suggesting a trade-off between acclimation and tolerance-adaptation; and (iii) the slope values of a multi-trait ‘reaction norm’ based on regression analysis of PCA scores were indicative of the degree of plasticity for each genotype, providing an accurate representation of a complex set of data with single numeric results easily comparable.
Additional keywords: adaptation; drought stress, Hordeum spp., xylem.
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