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de Tombeur F, Raven JA, Toussaint A, Lambers H, Cooke J, Hartley SE, Johnson SN, Coq S, Katz O, Schaller J, Violle C. Why do plants silicify? Trends Ecol Evol 2023; 38:275-288. [PMID: 36428125 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Revised: 10/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Despite seminal papers that stress the significance of silicon (Si) in plant biology and ecology, most studies focus on manipulations of Si supply and mitigation of stresses. The ecological significance of Si varies with different levels of biological organization, and remains hard to capture. We show that the costs of Si accumulation are greater than is currently acknowledged, and discuss potential links between Si and fitness components (growth, survival, reproduction), environment, and ecosystem functioning. We suggest that Si is more important in trait-based ecology than is currently recognized. Si potentially plays a significant role in many aspects of plant ecology, but knowledge gaps prevent us from understanding its possible contribution to the success of some clades and the expansion of specific biomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Félix de Tombeur
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France; School of Biological Sciences and Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
| | - John A Raven
- Division of Plant Science, University of Dundee at the James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, UK; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia; Climate Change Cluster, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia
| | - Aurèle Toussaint
- Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Hans Lambers
- School of Biological Sciences and Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
| | - Julia Cooke
- School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Sue E Hartley
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Scott N Johnson
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, Australia
| | - Sylvain Coq
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Ofir Katz
- Dead Sea and Arava Science Center, Mount Masada, Tamar Regional Council, Israel; Eilat Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Eilat, Israel
| | - Jörg Schaller
- Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany
| | - Cyrille Violle
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
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Nakamura R, Watanabe T, Onoda Y. Contrasting Silicon Dynamics Between Aboveground Vegetation and Soil Along a Secondary Successional Gradient in a Cool-temperate Deciduous Forest. Ecosystems 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s10021-022-00816-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
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Klotz M, Schaller J, Kurze S, Engelbrecht BMJ. Variation of foliar silicon concentrations in temperate forbs: effects of soil silicon, phylogeny and habitat. Oecologia 2021; 196:977-987. [PMID: 34259905 PMCID: PMC8367921 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-021-04978-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Silicon (Si) accumulation is known to alleviate various biotic and abiotic stressors in plants with potential ecological consequences. However, for dicotyledonous plants our understanding of Si variation remains limited. We conducted a comparative experimental study to investigate (1) interspecific variation of foliar Si concentrations across 37 dicotyledonous forbs of temperate grasslands, (2) intraspecific variation in foliar Si concentration in response to soil Si availability, the influence of (3) phylogenetic relatedness, and (4) habitat association to moisture. Foliar Si differed markedly (approx. 70-fold) across the investigated forbs, with some species exhibiting Si accumulation similar to grasses. Foliar Si increased with soil Si availability, but the response varied across species: species with higher Si accumulation capacity showed a stronger response, indicating that they did not actively upregulate Si uptake under low soil Si availability. Foliar Si showed a pronounced phylogenetic signal, i.e., closely related species exhibited more similar foliar Si concentrations than distantly related species. Significant differences in foliar Si concentration within closely related species pairs nevertheless support that active Si uptake and associated high Si concentrations has evolved multiple times in forbs. Foliar Si was not higher in species associated with drier habitats, implying that in dicotyledonous forbs of temperate grasslands high foliar Si is not an adaptive trait to withstand drought. Our results demonstrated considerable inter- and intraspecific variation in foliar Si concentration in temperate forbs. This variation should have pervasive, but so far understudied, ecological consequences for community composition and functioning of temperate grasslands under land-use and climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marius Klotz
- Department of Plant Ecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany.
| | - Jörg Schaller
- Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), 15374, Müncheberg, Germany
| | - Susanne Kurze
- Department of Plant Ecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Bettina M J Engelbrecht
- Department of Plant Ecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany.,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama
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