Table 1 Selected reviews/syntheses on functional traits that protect plants from the effects of fluvial disturbances
From: Functional traits: the pathways to riverine plant resistance in times of hydropeaking
Paper topic | Fluvial disturbance | Functional traits referenced in the text | References | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plant responses to avoid the adverse effects of submergence | Submergence | Aerenchyma formation, shoot elongation, underwater photosynthesis, leaf cuticle thickness, specific leaf area, chloroplasts reorientation, gene regulatory networks aimed at sensing submergence | Voesenek et al. (2006) | ||
Exploration of natural variation in strategies that improve O2 and carbohydrate status for plants during flooding | Partial and complete submergence | Shoot elongation, aerenchyma formation, leaf cuticle thickness, chloroplast position, gene regulation to enhance anaerobic catabolism (e.g., fermentation capacity), carbohydrate consumption (i.e., intolerant species to flooding will up-regulate genes controlling carbohydrate consumption to promote shoot elongation and "escape" from submergence; in contrast, plant adopting a quiescence strategy to "resist" under the water, will downregulate carbohydrate consumption to save energy) | Bailey-Serres and Voesenek (2008) | ||
Functional traits and their role in wetland plant adaptation and ecosystem functioning | Waterlogging and submergence | Adventitious roots, aerenchyma formation and ventilation systems (e.g., convective flow of gases through shoot organs and along rhizomes of some wetland species), radial O2 loss barrier, anaerobic energy production, carbohydrate conservation (i.e., dowregulation of ATP consumption), prevention of reactive oxygen species (ROS), antioxidant mechanisms, nastic movements, shoot elongation, aquatic leaf traits, leaf gas films | Colmer and Voesenek (2009) | ||
Mechanisms of tolerance to anoxia in plant tissue exposed to lack of O2 as a consequence of waterlogging and submergence | Soil waterlogging and submergence | Metabolic acclimations: regulation of anaerobic catabolism (e.g., synthesis of anaerobic proteins such as starch-degrading enzymes, and other enzymes involved in sugar catabolism under anoxia), carbohydrate conservation, coleoptile elongation, aerenchyma formation, root detipping ("controlled" root tip death), nucleotide regeneration (i.e., recovery of oxidized nucleotides reduced during glycolysis, from NO3- to NH4+) | Gibbs and Greenway (2003) | ||
Mechanisms of tolerance to anoxia in plants exposed to lack of O2 due to waterlogging and submergence | Soil waterlogging and submergence | Metabolic acclimations: carbohydrate conservation, gene regulation to enhance anaerobic catabolism (e.g., transcription of genes involved in the alcoholic and lactic fermentation pathways) and to repress the transcription of enzymes involved in protein degradation (i.e., allows protein turnover to be decreased, thereby conserving ATP) | Geigenberger (2003) | ||
Review of structural and metabolic features that participate in antioxidant protection under anoxia | Soil waterlogging and submergence | Antioxidant mechanisms | Blokhina et al. (2003) | ||
Review on how aerenchyma and radial O2 loss barriers favor O2 diffusion into the plant rhizosphere, which enhances root penetration into anaerobic substrates | Partial or total submergence, waterlogged soils | Aerenchyma formation and ventilation systems (e.g., convective flow of gases through shoot organs and along rhizomes of some wetland species), radial O2 loss barrier | Colmer (2003) | ||
Evidence implicating ethylene as the principal factor initiating fast underwater elongation by leaves or stems is evaluated comprehensively, along with its interactions with other hormones and gases | Partial or total submergence, waterlogged soils | Ethylene-mediated underwater elongation | Jackson (2008) | ||