首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
     


Responses to moisture stress in male and female plants of Rumex acetosella L. (Polygonaceae)
Authors:Jess K. Zimmerman  Martin J. Lechowicz
Affiliation:(1) Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Docteur Penfield, H3A 1B1 Montreal, Quebec, Canada;(2) Present address: Department of Biology, University of Windsor, N9B 3P4 Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Abstract:Summary Male and female plants of Rumex acetosella were grown on a moisture gradient to measure possible differences in the drought tolerance of the sexes. The growth of both sexes declined under water stress but males were significantly more drought tolerant. This could not be explained by greater water use efficiency in the male plants; measured rates of both photosynthesis and leaf conductance did not differ significantly between the sexes. Multiple discriminant analysis showed that the sexes differed at all moisture regimes in their overall patterns of biomass allocation. Males had proportionately greater investment in root and leaf tissue which could explain their growth advantage over females under water stress. Despite essentially equal water use efficiencies, on a per plant basis males, with more leaf and root biomass, could fix more carbon and more rapidly exploit the local water resource than females. Thus the pattern of biomass allocation rather than intrinsic physiological differences appears to explain the greater drought tolerance of male plants of Rumex acetosella.
Keywords:
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录!
设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号