ArticleAnnals of botany2023
Defence plasticity in the spiny plant Aralia elata (Miq.) Seem. in response to light and soil fertility.
Article in Annals of botany, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed.
- 2,4-Epibrassinolide Enhances Drought Tolerance inPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Light regulates the synthesis and accumulation of plant secondary metabolites.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Review
- Predicting the impact of climate change and land use change on the potential distribution of two economic forest trees in Northeastern China.Frontiers in plant science · 2024Article
- Focus issue on plants and their soil communities.Annals of botany · 2023Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsPlants have evolved various defences against herbivores, including direct chemical and structural defences and co-opted biological defences by predatory insects. However, the effects of abiotic habitat conditions on the quantitative expression of defence traits of spiny species have not been elucidated.
methodsHere, we investigated whether a spiny deciduous tree, Aralia elata (Miq.) Seem., changes its defence expression across light and nutrient gradients. We measured allocation to spines and C-based secondary metabolites (condensed tannins and total phenols) on A. elata plants growing across light and nutrient gradients in situ in natural landscapes in Japan. Second, we examined the effects of light and soil nutrient condition on allocation to shoot organs, spines and chemical defences of juveniles of two genotypes of the species, respectively spiny (mainland population) and non-spiny (island population), grown in a glasshouse. KEY
resultsIn the field investigation, absolute spine mass, spine mass fraction, total phenols and condensed tannins all responded positively to canopy openness. Total phenol content was also negatively related to soil N. In the glasshouse, spiny genotype individuals had less total biomass, had lower stem allocation and were shorter than non-spiny genotype individuals. In spiny genotype trees, both spine mass fraction and total phenols decreased under low light conditions. Nutrient additions had negative effects on spine mass fraction and total phenols, but no effect on absolute spine mass.
conclusionsThese results suggest that development of spines is costly for A. elata and receives greater allocation when carbohydrate supply is more plentiful. Thus, light is a more important determinant of spine allocation than soil nutrients for A. elata.
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