Co-ordination in Morphological Leaf Traits of Early Diverging Angiosperms Is Maintained Following Exposure to Experimental Palaeo-atmospheric Conditions of Sub-ambient O2and Elevated CO2.
In order to be successful in a given environment a plant should invest in a vein network and stomatal distribution that ensures balance between both water supply and demand. Vein density (Dv) and stomatal density (SD) have been shown to be strongly positively correlated in response to a range of environmental variables in more recently evolved plant species, but the extent of this relationship has not been confirmed in earlier diverging plant lineages. In order to examine the effect of a changing atmosphere on the relationship betweenDvand SD, five early-diverging plant species representing two different reproductive plant grades were grown for 7 months in a palaeo-treatment comprising an O2:CO2ratio that has occurred multiple times throughout plant evolutionary history. Results show a range of species-specificDvand SD responses to the palaeo-treatment, however, we show that the strong relationship betweenDvand SD under modern ambient atmospheric composition is maintained following exposure to the palaeo-treatment. This suggests strong inter-specific co-ordination between vein and stomatal traits for our study species even under relatively extreme environmental change. This co-ordination supports existing plant function proxies that use the distance between vein endings and stomata (Dm) to infer plant palaeo-physiology.
Earth Institute, O'Brien Centre for Science, University College DublinDublin, Ireland; School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College DublinDublin, Ireland.
Christiana
C
Evans-Fitz Gerald
Earth Institute, O'Brien Centre for Science, University College DublinDublin, Ireland; School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College DublinDublin, Ireland.
Amanda S
AS
Porter
Earth Institute, O'Brien Centre for Science, University College DublinDublin, Ireland; School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College DublinDublin, Ireland.
Charilaos
C
Yiotis
School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin Dublin, Ireland.
Caroline
C
Elliott-Kingston
Earth Institute, O'Brien Centre for Science, University College DublinDublin, Ireland; School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College DublinDublin, Ireland.
Jennifer C
JC
McElwain
co-ordination; palaeo-atmosphere; plant growth chambers; stomatal density; vein density
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