Plant Morphofunctional and Evolutionary Traits under a Climate Change Scenario

A topical collection in Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This collection belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

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Editors

Department of Biology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA
Interests: physiological plant ecology; plants and climate change; plant growth and development; plant stress physiology
Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Rome, Italy
Interests: plant physiological ecology; modelling of environmental botany; stress physiology; stomatal conductance; photosynthesis; ozone; drought; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Biology, Mount Saint Vincent University, 166 Bedford Highway, Halifax, NS B3M 2J6, Canada
Interests: plant responses to multiple components of climate change; methane emissions from stressed plants

Topical Collection Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that we are launching a Special Issue of Plants entitled “Plant Morphofunctional and Evolutionary Traits under a Climate Change Scenario”.

We would be delighted to receive your authoritative contribution, and we look forward to working together to collect high-quality research articles and review articles in all the fields related to the above topic.

Because the aim of this Special Issue is to illustrate, through selected works, cutting-edge research in "Plant Morphofunctional and Evolutionary Traits under a Climate Change Scenario", we encourage Editorial Board Members of our Section to contribute by sending papers reflecting the latest progress in their research field or to invite relevant experts and colleagues to do so.

In particular (but not exclusively), this Special Issue welcomes high-level manuscripts related to interactions between plants (and/or the abovementioned organisms) as well as the following:

Elevated temperature;

Excess (flooding) and/or lack of water (drought);

Hypoxia and/or anoxia;

Oxidative stress;

CO2, CH4, N2O, and other greenhouse gases;

Tropospheric ozone;

Volatile organic compounds (VOC);

Global change

Prof. Dr. Luigi Sanità di Toppi,
Prof. Dr. Howard S. Neufeld
Dr. Yasutomo Hoshika
Dr. Mirwais Qaderi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (3 papers)

2021

Jump to: 2020

12 pages, 1820 KiB  
Article
Root System Architecture Plasticity of Bread Wheat in Response to Oxidative Burst under Extended Osmotic Stress
by Omar Azab, Abdullah Al-Doss, Thobayet Alshahrani, Salah El-Hendawy, Adel M. Zakri and Ahmed M. Abd-ElGawad
Plants 2021, 10(5), 939; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10050939 - 08 May 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2055
Abstract
There is a demand for an increase in crop production because of the growing population, but water shortage hinders the expansion of wheat cultivation, one of the most important crops worldwide. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was used to mimic drought stress due to its [...] Read more.
There is a demand for an increase in crop production because of the growing population, but water shortage hinders the expansion of wheat cultivation, one of the most important crops worldwide. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was used to mimic drought stress due to its high osmotic potentials generated in plants subjected to it. This study aimed to determine the root system architecture (RSA) plasticity of eight bread wheat genotypes under osmotic stress in relation to the oxidative status and mitochondrial membrane potential of their root tips. Osmotic stress application resulted in differences in the RSA between the eight genotypes, where genotypes were divided into adapted genotypes that have non-significant decreased values in lateral roots number (LRN) and total root length (TRL), while non-adapted genotypes have a significant decrease in LRN, TRL, root volume (RV), and root surface area (SA). Accumulation of intracellular ROS formation in root tips and elongation zone was observed in the non-adapted genotypes due to PEG-induced oxidative stress. Mitochondrial membrane potential (∆Ψm) was measured for both stress and non-stress treatments in the eight genotypes as a biomarker for programmed cell death as a result of induced osmotic stress, in correlation with RSA traits. PEG treatment increased scavenging capacity of the genotypes from 1.4-fold in the sensitive genotype Gemmiza 7 to 14.3-fold in the adapted genotype Sakha 94. The adapted genotypes showed greater root trait values, ∆Ψm plasticity correlated with high scavenging capacity, and less ROS accumulation in the root tissue, while the non-adapted genotypes showed little scavenging capacity in both treatments, accompanied by mitochondrial membrane permeability, suggesting mitochondrial dysfunction as a result of oxidative stress. Full article
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2020

Jump to: 2021

15 pages, 1868 KiB  
Article
Heterophyllous Shoots of Japanese Larch Trees: The Seasonal and Yearly Variation in CO2 Assimilation Capacity of the Canopy Top with Changing Environment
by Satoshi Kitaoka, Qu Laiye, Yoko Watanabe, Makoto Watanabe, Toshihiro Watanabe and Takayoshi Koike
Plants 2020, 9(10), 1278; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9101278 - 28 Sep 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2431
Abstract
Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi = L. leptolepis) is often characterized by its high growth rate with heterophyllous shoots, but the functional differences of heterophyllous shoots still remain unclear. Recently, abrupt high temperature and drought during spring induced high photosynthetic rate via [...] Read more.
Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi = L. leptolepis) is often characterized by its high growth rate with heterophyllous shoots, but the functional differences of heterophyllous shoots still remain unclear. Recently, abrupt high temperature and drought during spring induced high photosynthetic rate via change in leaf morphology of the deciduous habit. In order to reveal the photosynthetic characteristics of both short and long-shoot needles of sunny canopy of the larch trees using a canopy tower, we calculated the seasonal change of gas exchange characters and leaf mass per area (LMA) and foliar nitrogen content (N) of heterophyllous needles: short and long-shoot needles over 3 years. No marked difference in light-saturated photosynthetic rates (Psat) was observed between short and long shoots after leaf maturation to yellowing, although the difference was obvious in a specific year, which only shows that seasonal change in temperature and soil moisture determines the in situ photosynthetic capacity of needles. The large annual and seasonal variations in Psat in both shoots were found to be mainly determined by climatic variations, while shoot types determined the strategy of their photosynthetic N utilization as well as the stomatal regulation. Full article
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23 pages, 2319 KiB  
Article
Responses to Increased Salinity and Severe Drought in the Eastern Iberian Endemic Species Thalictrum maritimum (Ranunculaceae), Threatened by Climate Change
by Sara González-Orenga, Calin Trif, Mͣ Pilar Donat-Torres, Josep V. Llinares, Francisco Collado, P. Pablo Ferrer-Gallego, Emilio Laguna, Monica Boscaiu and Oscar Vicente
Plants 2020, 9(10), 1251; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9101251 - 23 Sep 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2173
Abstract
Thalictrum maritimum is an endangered, endemic species in East Spain, growing in areas of relatively low salinity in littoral salt marshes. A regression of its populations and the number of individuals has been registered in the last decade. This study aimed at establishing [...] Read more.
Thalictrum maritimum is an endangered, endemic species in East Spain, growing in areas of relatively low salinity in littoral salt marshes. A regression of its populations and the number of individuals has been registered in the last decade. This study aimed at establishing the causes of this reduction using a multidisciplinary approach, including climatic, ecological, physiological and biochemical analyses. The climatic data indicated that there was a direct negative correlation between increased drought, especially during autumn, and the number of individuals censused in the area of study. The susceptibility of this species to water deficit was confirmed by the analysis of growth parameters upon a water deficit treatment applied under controlled greenhouse conditions, with the plants withstanding only 23 days of complete absence of irrigation. On the other hand, increased salinity does not seem to be a risk factor for this species, which behaves as a halophyte, tolerating in controlled treatments salinities much higher than those registered in its natural habitat. The most relevant mechanisms of salt tolerance in T. maritimum appear to be based on the control of ion transport, by (i) the active transport of toxic ions to the aerial parts of the plants at high external salinity—where they are presumably stored in the leaf vacuoles to avoid their deleterious effects in the cytosol, (ii) the maintenance of K+ concentrations in belowground and aboveground organs, despite the increase of Na+ levels, and (iii) the salt-induced accumulation of Ca2+, particularly in stems and leaves. This study provides useful information for the management of the conservation plans of this rare and endangered species. Full article
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Responses to increased salinity and severe drought in the Eastern Iberian endemic species Thalictrum maritium (Ranunculaceae), highly threatened by climate change
Authors: Óscar Vicente Meana
Affiliation: Instituto de Conservación y Mejora de la Agrodiversidad Valenciana (COMAV) , Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain

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