Comparative anatomy of leaf petioles in temperate trees and shrubs: the role of plant size, environment and phylogeny.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Petioles are important plant organs connecting stems with leaf blades and affecting light-harvesting ability of the leaf as well as transport of water, nutrients and biochemical signals. Despite the high diversity in petiole size, shape and anatomy, little information is available regarding their structural adaptations across evolutionary lineages and environmental conditions. To fill this knowledge gap, we investigated the variation of petiole morphology and anatomy of mainly European woody species to better understand the drivers of internal and external constraints in an evolutionary context. METHODS: We studied how petiole anatomical features differed according to whole-plant size, leaf traits, thermal and hydrological conditions, and taxonomic origin in 95 shrubs and trees using phylogenetic distance-based generalized least squares models. KEY RESULTS: Two major axes of variation were related to leaf area and plant size. Larger and softer leaves are found in taller trees of more productive habitats. Their petioles are longer, with a circular outline and are anatomically characterized by the predominance of sclerenchyma, larger vessels, interfascicular areas with fibres and indistinct phloem rays. In contrast, smaller and tougher leaves are found in shorter trees and shrubs of colder or drier habitats. Their petioles have a terete outline, phloem composed of small cells and radially arranged vessels, fibreless xylem and lamellar collenchyma. Individual anatomical traits were linked to different internal and external drivers. Petiole length and vessel diameter increase with increasing leaf blade area. Collenchyma becomes absent with increasing temperature, and petiole outline becomes polygonal with increasing precipitation. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that species' temperature and precipitation optima, plant height, and leaf area and thickness exerted a significant control on petiole anatomical and morphological structures not confounded by phylogenetic inertia. Species with different evolutionary histories but similar thermal and hydrological requirements have converged to similar petiole anatomical structures.

Cell size and wall dimensions drive distinct variability of earlywood and latewood density in Northern Hemisphere conifers.

Interannual variability of wood density - an important plant functional trait and environmental proxy - in conifers is poorly understood. We therefore explored the anatomical basis of density. We hypothesized that earlywood density is determined by tracheid size and latewood density by wall dimensions, reflecting their different functional tasks. To determine general patterns of variability, density parameters from 27 species and 349 sites across the Northern Hemisphere were correlated to tree-ring width parameters and local climate. We performed the same analyses with density and width derived from anatomical data comprising two species and eight sites. The contributions of tracheid size and wall dimensions to density were disentangled with sensitivity analyses. Notably, correlations between density and width shifted from negative to positive moving from earlywood to latewood. Temperature responses of density varied intraseasonally in strength and sign. The sensitivity analyses revealed tracheid size as the main determinant of earlywood density, while wall dimensions become more influential for latewood density. Our novel approach of integrating detailed anatomical data with large-scale tree-ring data allowed us to contribute to an improved understanding of interannual variations of conifer growth and to illustrate how conifers balance investments in the competing xylem functions of hydraulics and mechanical support.

Treeline advances and associated shifts in the ground vegetation alter fine root dynamics and mycelia production in the South and Polar Urals.

Climate warming is shifting the elevational boundary between forests and tundra upwards, but the related belowground responses are poorly understood. In the pristine South and Polar Urals with shifts of the treeline ecotone documented by historical photographs, we investigated fine root dynamics and production of extramatrical mycorrhizal mycelia (EMM) along four elevational transects reaching from the closed forest to the treeless tundra. In addition, we analysed elevational differences in climate and vegetation structure, and excavated trees to estimate related changes in the partitioning between below- and aboveground biomass. Fine root biomass of trees (<2 mm) increased by 13-79% with elevation, paralleled by a 35-72% increase in ground vegetation fine roots from the closed forest to the tundra. During the first year of decomposition, mass loss of fine root litter from different vegetation types was greater at lower elevations in the forest-tundra ecotone. The ratio between fine roots of trees and stem biomass largely increased with elevation in both regions, but these increases were not accompanied by a distinct production of EMM. Production of EMM, however, increased with the presence of ectomycorrhizal trees at the transition from the tundra to the forest. Our results imply that the recorded upward expansion of forest into former tundra in the Ural Mountains by 4-8 m per decade is decreasing the partitioning of plant biomass to fine roots. They further suggest that climate-driven forest advances will alter EMM production rates with potential feedbacks on soil carbon and nutrient cycling in these ecosystems.

The Root-Associated Microbial Community of the World's Highest Growing Vascular Plants.

Upward migration of plants to barren subnival areas is occurring worldwide due to raising ambient temperatures and glacial recession. In summer 2012, the presence of six vascular plants, growing in a single patch, was recorded at an unprecedented elevation of 6150 m.a.s.l. close to the summit of Mount Shukule II in the Western Himalayas (Ladakh, India). Whilst showing multiple signs of stress, all plants have managed to establish stable growth and persist for several years. To learn about the role of microbes in the process of plant upward migration, we analysed the root-associated microbial community of the plants (three individuals from each) using microscopy and tagged amplicon sequencing. No mycorrhizae were found on the roots, implying they are of little importance to the establishment and early growth of the plants. However, all roots were associated with a complex bacterial community, with richness and diversity estimates similar or even higher than the surrounding bare soil. Both soil and root-associated communities were dominated by members of the orders Sphingomonadales and Sphingobacteriales, which are typical for hot desert soils, but were different from communities of temperate subnival soils and typical rhizosphere communities. Despite taxonomic similarity on the order level, the plants harboured a unique set of highly dominant operational taxonomic units which were not found in the bare soil. These bacteria have been likely transported with the dispersing seeds and became part of the root-associated community following germination. The results indicate that developing soils act not only as a source of inoculation to plant roots but also possibly as a sink for plant-associated bacteria.

Modelling the development and arrangement of the primary vascular structure in plants.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The process of vascular development in plants results in the formation of a specific array of bundles that run throughout the plant in a characteristic spatial arrangement. Although much is known about the genes involved in the specification of procambium, phloem and xylem, the dynamic processes and interactions that define the development of the radial arrangement of such tissues remain elusive. METHODS: This study presents a spatially explicit reaction-diffusion model defining a set of logical and functional rules to simulate the differentiation of procambium, phloem and xylem and their spatial patterns, starting from a homogeneous group of undifferentiated cells. KEY RESULTS: Simulation results showed that the model is capable of reproducing most vascular patterns observed in plants, from primitive and simple structures made up of a single strand of vascular bundles (protostele), to more complex and evolved structures, with separated vascular bundles arranged in an ordered pattern within the plant section (e.g. eustele). CONCLUSIONS: The results presented demonstrate, as a proof of concept, that a common genetic-molecular machinery can be the basis of different spatial patterns of plant vascular development. Moreover, the model has the potential to become a useful tool to test different hypotheses of genetic and molecular interactions involved in the specification of vascular tissues.

Unravelling the age of fine roots of temperate and boreal forests.

Fine roots support the water and nutrient demands of plants and supply carbon to soils. Quantifying turnover times of fine roots is crucial for modeling soil organic matter dynamics and constraining carbon cycle-climate feedbacks. Here we challenge widely used isotope-based estimates suggesting the turnover of fine roots of trees to be as slow as a decade. By recording annual growth rings of roots from woody plant species, we show that mean chronological ages of fine roots vary from <1 to 12 years in temperate, boreal and sub-arctic forests. Radiocarbon dating reveals the same roots to be constructed from 10 ± 1 year (mean ± 1 SE) older carbon. This dramatic difference provides evidence for a time lag between plant carbon assimilation and production of fine roots, most likely due to internal carbon storage. The high root turnover documented here implies greater carbon inputs into soils than previously thought which has wide-ranging implications for quantifying ecosystem carbon allocation.

Vegetation dynamics at the upper elevational limit of vascular plants in Himalaya.

A rapid warming in Himalayas is predicted to increase plant upper distributional limits, vegetation cover and abundance of species adapted to warmer climate. We explored these predictions in NW Himalayas, by revisiting uppermost plant populations after ten years (2003-2013), detailed monitoring of vegetation changes in permanent plots (2009-2012), and age analysis of plants growing from 5500 to 6150 m. Plant traits and microclimate variables were recorded to explain observed vegetation changes. The elevation limits of several species shifted up to 6150 m, about 150 vertical meters above the limit of continuous plant distribution. The plant age analysis corroborated the hypothesis of warming-driven uphill migration. However, the impact of warming interacts with increasing precipitation and physical disturbance. The extreme summer snowfall event in 2010 is likely responsible for substantial decrease in plant cover in both alpine and subnival vegetation and compositional shift towards species preferring wetter habitats. Simultaneous increase in summer temperature and precipitation caused rapid snow melt and, coupled with frequent night frosts, generated multiple freeze-thaw cycles detrimental to subnival plants. Our results suggest that plant species responses to ongoing climate change will not be unidirectional upward range shifts but rather multi-dimensional, species-specific and spatially variable.

A technical perspective in modern tree-ring research--how to overcome dendroecological and wood anatomical challenges.

Dendroecological research uses information stored in tree rings to understand how single trees and even entire forest ecosystems responded to environmental changes and to finally reconstruct such changes. This is done by analyzing growth variations back in time and correlating various plant-specific parameters to (for example) temperature records. Integrating wood anatomical parameters in these analyses would strengthen reconstructions, even down to intra-annual resolution. We therefore present a protocol on how to sample, prepare, and analyze wooden specimen for common macroscopic analyses, but also for subsequent microscopic analyses. Furthermore we introduce a potential solution for analyzing digital images generated from common small and large specimens to support time-series analyses. The protocol presents the basic steps as they currently can be used. Beyond this, there is an ongoing need for the improvement of existing techniques, and development of new techniques, to record and quantify past and ongoing environmental processes. Traditional wood anatomical research needs to be expanded to include ecological information to this field of research. This would support dendro-scientists who intend to analyze new parameters and develop new methodologies to understand the short and long term effects of specific environmental factors on the anatomy of woody plants.

Variation in stem anatomical characteristics of Campanuloideae species in relation to evolutionary history and ecological preferences.

BACKGROUND: The detailed knowledge of plant anatomical characters and their variation among closely related taxa is key to understanding their evolution and function. We examined anatomical variation in 46 herbaceous taxa from the subfamily Campanuloideae (Campanulaceae) to link this information with their phylogeny, ecology and comparative material of 56 woody tropical taxa from the subfamily Lobelioideae. The species studied covered major environmental gradients from Mediterranean to Arctic zones, allowing us to test hypotheses on the evolution of anatomical structure in relation to plant competitive ability and ecological preferences. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To understand the evolution of anatomical diversity, we reconstructed the phylogeny of studied species from nucleotide sequences and examined the distribution of anatomical characters on the resulting phylogenetic tree. Redundancy analysis, with phylogenetic corrections, was used to separate the evolutionary inertia from the adaptation to the environment. A large anatomical diversity exists within the Campanuloideae. Traits connected with the quality of fibres were the most congruent with phylogeny, and the Rapunculus 2 ("phyteumoid") clade was especially distinguished by a number of characters (absence of fibres, pervasive parenchyma, type of rays) from two other clades (Campanula s. str. and Rapunculus 1) characterized by the dominance of fibres and the absence of parenchyma. Septate fibres are an exclusive trait in the Lobelioideae, separating it clearly from the Campanuloideae where annual rings, pervasive parenchyma and crystals in the phellem are characteristic features. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Despite clear phylogenetic inertia in the anatomical features studied, the ecological attributes and plant height had a significant effect on anatomical divergence. From all three evolutionary clades, the taller species converged towards similar anatomical structure, characterized by a smaller number of early wood vessels of large diameter, thinner cell-walls and alternate intervessel pits, while the opposite trend was found in small Arctic and alpine taxa. This supports the existing generalization that narrower vessels allow plants to grow in colder places where they can avoid freezing-induced embolism, while taller plants have wider vessels to minimize hydraulic resistance with their greater path lengths.

Xylem as the main origin of stem radius changes in Eucalyptus.

The state-of-the-art interpretation of stem radius changes (DRTotal) for tree water relations is based on knowledge from mostly slow growing tree species. The ratio between diurnal size fluctuations of the rigid xylem (DRXylem) and the respective fluctuations of the elastic bark (DRBark) is known to be small (<0.4) and is of importance for the localisation of water storage dynamics in stems. In this study, fast growing Eucalyptus globulus Labill. in Tasmania were investigated by point dendrometers in order to investigate tree water relations. Unexpectedly, DRXylem was found to be the main driver of DRTotal with the bark acting as a passive layer on top of the fluctuating xylem under most conditions. Accordingly, the ratio between the diurnal fluctuations of the two tissues was found to be much higher (0.6-1.6) than everything reported before. Based on simulations using a hydraulic plant model, the high tissue-specific elasticity of the Eucalyptus xylem was found to explain this atypical response and not osmotically-driven processes or species-specific flow resistances. The wide zone of secondary thickening xylem in various stages of lignification is proposed to be an important component of the high wood elasticity. The tissue acts as additional water storage like the bark and may positively affect the water transport efficiency.

Low-frequency signals in long tree-ring chronologies for reconstructing past temperature variability.

Preserving multicentennial climate variability in long tree-ring records is critically important for reconstructing the full range of temperature variability over the past 1000 years. This allows the putative "Medieval Warm Period" (MWP) to be described and to be compared with 20th-century warming in modeling and attribution studies. We demonstrate that carefully selected tree-ring chronologies from 14 sites in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) extratropics can preserve such coherent large-scale, multicentennial temperature trends if proper methods of analysis are used. In addition, we show that the average of these chronologies supports the large-scale occurrence of the MWP over the NH extratropics.