Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Whole plant adaptations to fluctuating water tables

  • Published:
Folia Geobotanica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Why some plants are damaged by flooding and others are not, is not a question that can be answered by citing any one particular mechanism or sequence of events. Flood-tolerant plants like obligate aquatic species can survive inundation but differ in that they are also adapted to withstand the consequences of becoming unflooded. Flooding implies a transitory state so that when water tables drop, adapted species have to be able to survive being deprived of the physical support of flood-water as well as re-exposure to a normal air supply. A review of flooding tolerance mechanisms reveals that tolerant species combine a range of adaptations which, depending on the life strategy of the species, can play different roles in enabling intact plants to adjust to both rising and falling water levels. Flooding is also a seasonal stress with many temperate plant communities being subjected to high water tables in winter. The mechanisms that confer tolerance of winter flooding also differ from those that allow plants to grow when flooded during the growing season. This review argues therefore, that reductionist investigations, which examine isolated organs or individual processes, may not be the most suitable method to apply to understanding the complexity of reactions that are needed to survive flooding. Instead, a holistic approach is advocated which examines the reactions of whole plants to changing water levels at different seasons of the year.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albrecht G. &Wiedenroth E.-M. (1994): Protection against activated oxygen following re-aeration of hypoxically pretreated wheat roots. The response of the glutathione system.J. Exp. Bot. 45: 449–455.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alscher R.G. (1989): Biosynthesis and antioxidant function of glutathione in plants.Physiol. Pl. 77: 457–464.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews D.L., Cobb B.G., Johnson J.R. &Drew M.C. (1993): Hypoxic and anoxic inductions of alcohol dehydrogenase in roots and shoots of seedlings ofZea mays. Adh transcripts and enzyme activity.Pl. Physiol. 101: 407–414.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong J., Armstrong G. &Beckett P.M. (1992):Phragmites australis: venturi- and humidity-induced pressure flows enhance rhizome aeration and rhizosphere oxidation.New Phytol. 120: 197–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong W., Braendle R. &Jackson M.B. (1994): Mechanisms of flood tolerance in plants.Acta Bot. Neerl. 43: 307–358.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barton L.V. (1950): The relation of different gases to the soaking injury of seeds. II.Contr. Boyce Thompson Inst. Pl. Res. 16: 55–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braendle R. (1990): Flooding resistance of rhizomatous amphibious plants. In:Jackson M.B., Davies D.D. &Lambers H. (eds.),Plant life under oxygen deprivation, Academic Publishing, The Hague, pp. 35–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braendle R. &Crawford R.M.M. (1987): Rhizome anoxia tolerance and habitat specialization in wetland plants. In:Crawford R.M.M. (ed.),Plant life in aquatic and amphibious habitats, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp. 397–410.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford R.M.M. (1972): Some metabolic aspect of ecology,Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh 41: 309–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford R.M.M. (1977): Tolerance of anoxia and ethanol metabolism in germinating seeds.New Phytol. 79: 511–517.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford R.M.M. (1982): Physiological responses to flooding. In:Lange O.L., Nobel P.S., Osmond C.B. &Ziegler H. (eds.),Encyclopedia of plant physiology, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 453–477.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford R.M.M. (1992): Oxygen availability as an ecological limit to plant distribution.Advances Ecol. Res. 23: 93–185.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford R.M.M. &Abbott R.J. (1994): Pre-adaptation of Arctic plants to climate change.Bot. Acta 107: 271–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford R.M.M., Chapman H.M. &Hodge H. (1994): Anoxia tolerance in high Arctic vegetation.Arctic Alpine Res. 26: 308–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford R.M.M., Hendry G.A.F. & Goodman B.A. (eds.) (1994): Oxygen and environmental stress in plants.Proc. Royal Soc. Edinburgh Ser. B, 102: 549.

  • Crawford R.M.M., Walton J.C. &Wollenweber-Ratzer B. (1994): Similarities between postischaemic injury to animal tissues and post-anoxic injury in plants.Proc. Royal Soc. Edinburgh, Ser. B., 102: 325–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford R.M.M. &Wollenweber-Ratzer B. (1992): Influence of L-ascorbic acid on post-anoxic growth and survival of chickpea seedlings (Cicer arietinum L.).J. Exp. Bot. 43: 703–708.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Davies W.J., Mansfield T.A. &Hetherington A.M. (1990): Sensing of soil water status and the regulation of plant growth and development.Pl. Cell Environm. 13: 709–719.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foyer C.H. &Halliwell B. (1976): The presence of glutathione and glutatione reductase in chloroplasts: a proposes role in ascorbic acid metabolism.Planta 133: 21–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gill C.J. (1970): The flooding tolerance of wood species—a review.Forest. Abstr. 31: 671–688.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendry G.A.F. &Brocklebank K.J. (1985): Iron-induced oxygen radical metabolism in waterlogged plants.New Phytol. 101: 199–206.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson M.B., Davies D.D. &Lambers H. (eds.) (1990):Plant life under oxygen deprivation, SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson M.B. &Drew M.C. (1984): Effects of flooding on growth and metabolism of herbaceous plants. In:Kozlowski T.T. (ed.),Flooding and plant growth, Academic Press, Orlando, pp. 47–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Končalová H. (1990): Anatomical adapations to waterlogging in roots of wetland graminoids: limitations and drawbacks.Aquatic Bot. 38: 127–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Körner C.L.W. (1988): Plant life in cold climates. In:Long S.P. &Woodward F.I. (eds.),Plants and temperature, Symp. Soc. Experimental Biology, The Company of Biologists, Cambridge, 42: 25–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozlowski T.T. (ed.) (1984):Flooding and plant growth. Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monk L.S., Fagerstedt K.V. &Crawford R.M.M. (1987): Superoxide dismutase as an anaerobic polypeptide. A key factor in recovery from oxygen deprivation inIris pseudacorus.Pl. Physiol. 85: 1016–1020.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pfister-Sieber M. &Braendle R. (1994): Aspects of plant behaviour under anoxia and post-anoxia.Proc. Roy. Soc. Einburgh, Ser B, 102: 313–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell A.A. &Matthews S. (1978): The damaging effect of water on dry pea embryos during imbibition.J. Exp. Bot. 29: 1215–1229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pretorius J.C. &Small J.G.C. (1991): The effect of soaking injury in bean seeds on protein synthesis in embryonic axes.Seed Sci. Res. 1: 195–197.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pretorius J.C. &Small J.G.C. (1992): The effect of soaking injury in bean seeds on aspects of the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway in embryonic axes.Seed Sci. Res. 2: 33–39.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pretorius J.C. &Small J.G.C. (1993): The effect of soaking injury in bean seeds on carbohydrate levels and sucrose phosphate synthase activity during germination.Pl. Physiol. Biochem. 31: 25–34.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts J.K.M., Chang K., Webster C., Callis J. &Walbot V. (1989): Dependence of ethanolic fermentation, cytoplasmic pH regulation, and viability on the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase in hypoxic maize root tips.Pl. Physiol. 89: 1275–1278.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rønning O.I. (1979):Svalbards Flora. Norsk Polar Institut, Oslo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowe R.N. &Beardsell D.V. (1973): Waterlogging of fruit trees.Hort. Abstr. 43: 534–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saglio P.H., Drew M.C. &Pradet A. (1988): Metabolic acclimation to anoxia by low (2–4 kPa) partial pressure oxygen pretreatment in root tips ofZea mays.Pl. Physiol. 86: 61–66.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Small J.G., Botha F.C., Pretorius J.C. &Hoffman E. (1991): Evidence for an ethylene requirement to reduce soaking injury in bean seeds and the beneficial effect of heavy metals.J. Exp. Bot. 42: 277–280.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Studer C. &Braendle R. (1988): Postanoxische Effekte von Äthanol in Rhizomen vonGlyceria maxima (Hartm.) Holmberg,Iris germanica (Cav) Trin.Bot. Helv. 98: 111–121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ushimaru T., Shibasaka M. &Tsuji H. (1992): Development of O2 detoxification system during adaptation to air of submerged rice seedlings.Pl. Cell Physiol. 33: 1065–1071.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • van Toai T.T. &Bolles C.S. (1991): Post-anoxic injury in soybean (Glycine max) seedlings.Pl. Physiol. 97: 588–592.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vartapetian B.B. &Andreeva I.N. (1986): Mitochondrial ultrastructure of three hygrophyte species at anoxia and in anoxic glucose-supplemented medium.J. Exp. Bot. 37: 685–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vartapetian B.B., Andreeva I.N. &Kozlova G.I. (1976): The resistance to anoxia and the mitochondrial fine structure of rice seedlings.Protoplasma 88: 215–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber M. &Brändle R. (1996): Some aspects of the extreme anoxia tolerance of the sweet flag,Acorus calamus L.Folia Geobot. Phytotax. 31: 37–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wollenweber-Ratzer B. &Crawford R.M.M. (1994): Enzymatic defence against post-anoxic injury in higher plants.Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, Ser. B, 102: 381–390.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Science Laboratory, The University, St Andrews, Sir Harold Mitchell Building, KY16 9AL, Fife, Scotland

    Robert M. M. Crawford

Authors
  1. Robert M. M. Crawford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert M. M. Crawford.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Crawford, R.M.M. Whole plant adaptations to fluctuating water tables. Folia Geobot 31, 7–24 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02803990

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02803990

Keywords

Search

Navigation