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Competition mediates costs of jasmonate‐induced defences, nitrogen acquisition and transgenerational plasticity in Nicotiana attenuata
Author(s) -
Van Dam N. M.,
Baldwin I. T.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
functional ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.272
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1365-2435
pISSN - 0269-8463
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2435.2001.00533.x
Subject(s) - biology , germination , methyl jasmonate , competition (biology) , transgenerational epigenetics , phenotypic plasticity , seedling , solanaceae , interspecific competition , botany , maternal effect , jasmonate , offspring , plant physiology , nicotiana , agronomy , arabidopsis , ecology , genetics , pregnancy , mutant , gene
Summary1 Plants adjust their phenotype in response to environmental signals, but little is known about the interaction of plastic responses to simultaneously occurring environmental stresses. 2 To examine the costs of induced resistance on reproductive performance in plants subjected to other important environmental variables, resistance was elicited with a jasmonate treatment (MeJA) to one, both or neither of two Nicotiana attenuata plants growing competitively in either high‐ or low‐N soils. Half the plants were subjected to leaf removal (LR). K 15 NO 3 was used to quantify differences in N acquisition and allocation. Transgenerational effects were measured with seed germination and seedling performance tests. 3 An induced plant competing with an uninduced plant produced significantly fewer seeds, acquired less 15 N and allocated less 15 N to seed production. Uninduced plants competing with induced plants realized a comparable fitness benefit. 4 The costs of induction were greater under high N. Plants grown under low N minimized costs by allocating significantly more N to seeds. LR decreased seed production independently of any other effect. Low N and LR both reduced germination rates. 5 The effects of MeJA on seed germination depended on competition and N supply. The differences in germination rates resulted in dramatic fitness differences among offspring. 6 N. attenuata plants appear to use N availability and their induced status to alter their current phenotype and their offspring’s phenotype to adjust to environmental changes that occur predictably over time in their natural environment.