[Features of calcium crystals and calcium components in 54 plant species in salinized habitats of Tianjin].
Plant calcium (Ca) is composed of dissociated Ca2+ and easily soluble, slightly soluble, and hard soluble combined Ca salts. The hard soluble Ca salts can often engender Ca crystals. To understand the Ca status in different growth form plants in salinized habitats, 54 plant species were sampled from the salinized habitats in Tianjin, with the Ca crystals examined by microscope and the Ca components determined by sequential fractionation procedure. More Ca crystals were found in 38 of the 54 plant species. In 37 of the 38 plant species, drusy and prismatic Ca oxalate crystals dominated, whereas the cystolith of Ca carbonate crystal only appeared in the leaves of Ficus carica of Moraceae. The statistics according to growth form suggested that deciduous arbors and shrubs had more Ca oxalate crystal, liana had lesser Ca oxalate crystal, and herbs and evergreen arbors had no Ca oxalate crystal. From arbor, shrub, liana to herb, the concentration of HCl-soluble Ca decreased gradually, while that of water soluble Ca was in adverse. The concentration of water soluble Ca in herbs was significantly higher than that in arbors and shrubs. This study showed that in salinized habitats, plant Ca crystals and Ca components differed with plant growth form, and the Ca oxalate in deciduous arbors and shrubs played an important role in withstanding salt stress.
College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China. JJxu1986@mail.nankai.edu.cn
Jing-Jing
JJ
Xu
Hua-Cong
HC
Ci
Xing-Dong
XD
He
Ping-Ping
PP
Xue
Xue-Lai
XL
Zhao
Jian-Tan
JT
Guo
Yu-Bao
YB
Gao
D002118:Calcium / Q000737:chemistry*; D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry; D017610:Calcium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D002129:Calcium Oxalate / Q000737:chemistry; D002681:China; D003460:Crystallization; D017753:Ecosystem; D063245:Plant Development; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification*; D054712:Salinity; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis; D012995:Solubility; D013045:Species Specificity
D017610:Calcium Compounds; D012987:Soil; D002129:Calcium Oxalate; D002119:Calcium Carbonate; D002118:Calcium