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Bouldering: an alternative strategy to long-vertical climbing in root-climbing hortensias.

ABSTRACT: In the Neotropics, the genus Hydrangea of the popular ornamental hortensia family is represented by climbing species that strongly cling to their support surface by means of adhesive roots closely positioned along specialized anchoring stems. These root-climbing hortensia species belong to the nearly exclusive American Hydrangea section Cornidia and generally are long lianescent climbers that mostly flower and fructify high in the host tree canopy. The Mexican species Hydrangea seemannii, however, encompasses not only long lianescent climbers of large vertical rock walls and coniferous trees, but also short 'shrub-like' climbers on small rounded boulders. To investigate growth form plasticity in root-climbing hortensia species, we tested the hypothesis that support variability (e.g. differences in size and shape) promotes plastic responses observable at the mechanical, structural and anatomical level. Stem bending properties, architectural axis categorization, tissue organization and wood density were compared between boulder and long-vertical tree-climbers of H. seemannii. For comparison, the mechanical patterns of a closely related, strictly long-vertical tree-climbing species were investigated. Hydrangea seemannii has fine-tuned morphological, mechanical and anatomical responses to support variability suggesting the presence of two alternative root-climbing strategies that are optimized for their particular environmental conditions. Our results suggest that variation of some stem anatomical traits provides a buffering effect that regulates the mechanical and hydraulic demands of two distinct plant architectures. The adaptive value of observed plastic responses and the importance of considering growth form plasticity in evolutionary and conservation studies are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Granados Mendoza C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4233742 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Bouldering: an alternative strategy to long-vertical climbing in root-climbing hortensias.

Granados Mendoza Carolina C Isnard Sandrine S Charles-Dominique Tristan T Van den Bulcke Jan J Rowe Nick P NP Van Acker Joris J Goetghebeur Paul P Samain Marie-Stéphanie MS

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface 20141001 99

In the Neotropics, the genus Hydrangea of the popular ornamental hortensia family is represented by climbing species that strongly cling to their support surface by means of adhesive roots closely positioned along specialized anchoring stems. These root-climbing hortensia species belong to the nearly exclusive American Hydrangea section Cornidia and generally are long lianescent climbers that mostly flower and fructify high in the host tree canopy. The Mexican species Hydrangea seemannii, howeve ...[more]

PMID: 25079869

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Project description:Climbing plants are an abundant and taxonomically diverse plant group that competes intensely with trees and thus substantially affects forest diversity and structure. The growth and physiology of climbing plants largely depend on their root tip structure and function. However, little is known regarding the mechanisms through which anatomical traits regulate root tip diameter in climbing plants. Therefore, our study sought to explore the relationships between root tip diameter and seven anatomical traits (e.g., cortex thickness and stele diameter) in three lianas and three vine species sampled from a tropical forest in Hainan. Root tip diameter was significantly positively correlated with cortex thickness (r = 0.94-0.99) and stele diameter (r = 0.72-0.94) within species, especially with cortex thickness. Cortex thickness was significantly positively correlated with mean cortical cell diameter in six species (r = 0.72-0.93), but was only correlated with the number of cortical cell layers in three species (r = 0.42-0.66). Stele diameter displayed significant positive correlations with mean conduit diameter (r = 0.58-0.88) and the number of conduits per stele (r = 0.50-0.66, except for Cyclea hypoglauca), and was negatively correlated with conduit density in all species (r = -0.65 to -0.77). The correlations between cortical cells and conduit traits and root tip diameter were similar to that with cortex thickness and stele diameter, respectively. Compared with vines, liana root tips showed closer relationships between root diameter and cortex thickness and stele diameter, and between cortex thickness and mean diameter of cortical cells. Moreover, the root tip of lianas possesses significantly higher stele proportion and denser conduits, significantly lower cortex proportion, and smaller conduit size than those of vines. However, the specific conductivity was similar. Overall, these results suggest that the cortex is the main driver for the change in root tip diameter rather than the stele. Nevertheless, both factors were responsible for variations in diameter-related traits when compared with number-related traits, with lianas and vines exhibiting distinct regulatory mechanisms.

Dataset Information

Bouldering: an alternative strategy to long-vertical climbing in root-climbing hortensias.

Publications

Bouldering: an alternative strategy to long-vertical climbing in root-climbing hortensias.

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