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Effects of the habitat-soil factor on transgenerational plasticity in a diaspore-polymorphic cold desert annual

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Abstract

Aims

We determined effects of soil from three habitats differing in physiochemical properties on transgenerational plasticity in diaspore production of the diaspore-polymorphic annual Ceratocarpus arenarius.

Methods

Production of three disapore morphs and size of F0 plants in a sand desert (S) were evaluated. F1 plants from morphs at soil surface (a) and middle (c) and upper (f) parts of canopy of F0 plants were grown in soil from S, salt desert (SD) and desert steppe (DS) and evaluated for diaspore production and plant size.

Results

Number of dispersal unit morphs for F0 plants in S was (f > c)> > a. Plants from all three morphs varied in size, mass and mass allocation. For F1 plants (compared to F0), a:(c + f) was the same or increased in S (poor soil) and decreased in DS (good soil); c:(a + f) increased in S and DS; and f:(a + c) decreased in S and DS. In SD, ratios for F1 plants from a and c were the same as those in S, but ratios for F1 plants from f were the same as those in S and DS.

Conclusions

Differences in soil physiochemistry caused flexibility in plant size, mass and mass allocation and proportion of diaspore morphs across generations.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the Program for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers U1803331, 31660122 and 32071668) and the Tianshan Innovative Research Team of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China (grant number 2018D14010). We thank Associate Professor Hongqi Wu, Professor Hongtao Jia and Professor Jiandong Sheng for advice on procedures for determining soil physicochemical properties and the National Meteorological Information Center of China Meteorological Administration for providing the temperature data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Grassland and Environment Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urümqi, 830052, China

    Juanjuan Lu, Lu Gan, Dunyan Tan, Carol C. Baskin & Jerry M. Baskin

  2. Promotion Station for Mechanization Technology of Farming and Animal Husbandry, Yili, Kazak Autonomous State, Yining, 835000, China

    Lu Gan

  3. Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA

    Carol C. Baskin & Jerry M. Baskin

  4. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA

    Carol C. Baskin

Authors
  1. Juanjuan Lu
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  2. Lu Gan
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  3. Dunyan Tan
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  4. Carol C. Baskin
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  5. Jerry M. Baskin
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Contributions

J.L., L.G. and D.T. conceived and designed the experiments; J.L. and L.G. performed the experiments; J.L. analyzed the data; J.L., L.G., D.T., C.C.B. and J.M.B. wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dunyan Tan.

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Responsible Editor: Jeffrey Walck.

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Lu, J., Gan, L., Tan, D. et al. Effects of the habitat-soil factor on transgenerational plasticity in a diaspore-polymorphic cold desert annual. Plant Soil 461, 355–367 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04792-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04792-x

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