TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetic variability and plasticity of plant allometry
AU - Vasseur, François
AU - Violle, Cyrille
AU - Enquist, Brian J.
AU - Vile, Denis
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Functional Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.
PY - 2023/4
Y1 - 2023/4
N2 - The metabolic scaling theory (MST) predicts quasi-universal trait–size relationships in plants, characterised by a unique allometric exponent within and across large taxonomic scales. However, recent studies have identified variability in allometric relationships, without a clear understanding of the modulating role played by genetic variation and environment. Here, we investigated (1) the allometric relationships for two central traits of MST, namely total leaf area and plant growth rate, in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana, (2) the variability of plant allometries between genotypes and (3) the plastic responses of plant allometries under water deficit, high temperature and their interaction. Using a population of 120 genotypes, we found that intraspecific allometries adhered on average with MST predictions. However, a broad variability but a moderate plasticity in the allometric exponents was observed across genotypes and environments. Allometric exponents were impacted significantly, yet weakly, by water deficit, but not by high temperature. Moreover, genotypes that deviated from MST predictions exhibited more plasticity in trait–size relationships than genotypes that followed MST predictions. Our study suggests that plant allometry is genetically variable and might be related to different adaptive strategies to cope with stressing conditions. Thus, our results highlights the need of assessing trait–size relationships within species to understand the mechanisms of plant adaptation to contrasted environments. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
AB - The metabolic scaling theory (MST) predicts quasi-universal trait–size relationships in plants, characterised by a unique allometric exponent within and across large taxonomic scales. However, recent studies have identified variability in allometric relationships, without a clear understanding of the modulating role played by genetic variation and environment. Here, we investigated (1) the allometric relationships for two central traits of MST, namely total leaf area and plant growth rate, in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana, (2) the variability of plant allometries between genotypes and (3) the plastic responses of plant allometries under water deficit, high temperature and their interaction. Using a population of 120 genotypes, we found that intraspecific allometries adhered on average with MST predictions. However, a broad variability but a moderate plasticity in the allometric exponents was observed across genotypes and environments. Allometric exponents were impacted significantly, yet weakly, by water deficit, but not by high temperature. Moreover, genotypes that deviated from MST predictions exhibited more plasticity in trait–size relationships than genotypes that followed MST predictions. Our study suggests that plant allometry is genetically variable and might be related to different adaptive strategies to cope with stressing conditions. Thus, our results highlights the need of assessing trait–size relationships within species to understand the mechanisms of plant adaptation to contrasted environments. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
KW - Arabidopsis thaliana
KW - growth rate
KW - high temperature
KW - intraspecific trait variability
KW - metabolic scaling theory
KW - plasticity
KW - water stress
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U2 - 10.1111/1365-2435.14281
DO - 10.1111/1365-2435.14281
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85147956397
SN - 0269-8463
VL - 37
SP - 1095
EP - 1105
JO - Functional Ecology
JF - Functional Ecology
IS - 4
ER -