Plant phenology: a critical controller of soil resource acquisition
Open Access
- 13 March 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Journal of Experimental Botany
- Vol. 60 (7), 1927-1937
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erp018
Abstract
Plant phenology, the timing of plant growth and development, is changing in response to global climate change. Changing temperature, soil moisture, nitrogen availability, light, and elevated CO2 are all likely to affect plant phenology. Alteration of plant phenology by global climate change may alter the ability of plants to acquire soil resources (water and nutrients) by altering the timing and duration of the deployment of roots and leaves, which drive resource acquisition. The potential importance of phenologically-driven changes in soil resource acquisition for plant fitness and productivity have received little attention. General hypotheses are proposed for how plant acquisition of soil resources may be affected by the alteration of phenology. It is expected that the acquisition of mobile resources will be approximately proportional to total transpiration. Alteration of phenology that increases total transpiration should increase, while changes in phenology that reduce transpiration should decrease the acquisition of mobile resources. The acquisition of immobile resources will be approximately proportional to root length duration, thus changes in phenology that increase growth duration should increase the acquisition of immobile resources and vice versa. For both groups of resources, longer growing seasons would tend to increase resource acquisition, and shorter growing seasons would tend to decrease resource acquisition. In the case of resources that exhibit seasonal variability in availability, the synchrony of resource availability and acquisition capacity is important, and subject to disturbance by the alteration of phenology.Keywords
This publication has 83 references indexed in Scilit:
- Rapid evolution of flowering time by an annual plant in response to a climate fluctuationProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007
- Ecological and Evolutionary Responses to Recent Climate ChangeAnnual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 2006
- Diverse responses of phenology to global changes in a grassland ecosystemProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006
- Soil development under elevated CO2 affects plant growth responses to CO2 enrichmentBasic and Applied Ecology, 2003
- Effects of Exotic Plant Invasions on Soil Nutrient Cycling ProcessesEcosystems, 2003
- Photosynthetic acclimation of Pinus taeda (loblolly pine) to long‐term growth in elevated pCO2 (FACE)Plant, Cell & Environment, 2002
- Four-year growth dynamics of beech-spruce model ecosystems under CO2 enrichment on two different forest soilsTrees, 2002
- Soil moisture effects determine CO2 responses of grassland speciesOecologia, 2000
- Responses of tree fine roots to temperatureNew Phytologist, 2000
- Maximizing final yield when growth is limited by time or by limiting resourcesJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1971