Do water and soil nutrient scarcities differentially impact the performance of diploid and tetraploid Solidago gigantea (Giant Goldenrod, Asteraceae)?

Abstract

Plants require water and nutrients for survival, although the effects of their availabilities on plant fitness differ amongst species. Genome size variation, within and across species, is suspected to influence plant water and nutrient requirements, but little is known about how variations in these resources concurrently affect plant fitness based on genome size. We examined how genome size variation between autopolyploid cytotypes influences plant morphological and physiological traits, and whether cytotypespecific trait responses differ based on water and/or nutrient availability.• Diploid and autotetraploid Solidago gigantea (Giant Goldenrod) were grown in a greenhouse under four soil water:N+P treatments (L:L, L:H, H:L, H:H), and stomata characteristics (size, density), growth (above-and belowground biomass, R/S), and physiological (A net , E, WUE) responses were measured.• Resource availabilities and cytotype identity influenced some plant responses but their effects were independent of each other. Plants grown in high-water and nutrient treatments were larger, plants grown in low-water or high-nutrient treatments had higher WUE but lower E, and A net and E rates decreased as plants aged. Autotetraploids also had larger and fewer stomata, higher biomass and larger A net than diploids.• Nutrient and water availability could influence intra-and interspecific competitive outcomes. Although S. gigantea cytotypes were not differentially affected by resource treatments, genome size may influence cytogeographic range patterning and population establishment likelihood. For instance, the larger size of autotetraploid S. gigantea might render them more competitive for resources and niche space than diploids.

Impact of genome duplications in drought tolerance and distribution of the diploid-tetraploid Jasione maritima

“…Unlike the reported in some studies (e.g., Pavlıḱováet al, 2017;Martıńez et al, 2018), the neotetraploids and established tetraploids did not perform better under water deficit conditions than diploids as indicated by negative responses in total biomass production and lack of differences in the F v /F m and F PSII . Similar results were found by (Walczyk and Hersch-Green, 2022) for diploid and tetraploid Solidago gigantea, in which cytotypes did not differ in biomass and photosynthetic efficiency in response to water deficit. Regardless of whether the ecological differences arose in association with or after genome duplications, niche differentiation has been suggested as a key factor for the successful establishment of polyploids.…”

“…Tetraploids tend to have higher contents of chlorophyll and carotenoids (e.g., Cao et al, 2018;Mao et al, 2018) and sugars (Mao et al, 2018) when compared to diploids, which may confer higher protection against excess light energy. Tetraploids also tend to have larger but fewer stomata resulting in lower transpiration rates, as shown for several plant species [e.g., Jasione maritima (Siopa et al, 2020), Arabidopsis (Del Pozo and Ramirez-Parra, 2014), Solidago gigantea (Walczyk and Hersch-Green, 2022)]. Additionally, tetraploids tend to be bigger and have higher fitness than diploids, which may facilitate their establishment (Ramsey, 2011;del Pozo and Ramirez-Parra, 2015) and can have larger leaf thickness (van Laere et al, 2011) or epidermis thickness and pubescence (Li et al, 1996, Li et al, 2009, which may result in higher tolerance to stressful factors.…”

“…The presence of * indicates that the response ratio differed significantly from zero. Del Pozo and Ramirez-Parra, 2014;Siopa et al, 2020;Walczyk and Hersch-Green, 2022). In polyploids, the stomata (with lower stomatal aperture) and the lower stomata density contribute to decreased transpiration rates and higher water availability (van Laere et al, 2011;Del Pozo and Ramirez-Parra, 2014;Siopa et al, 2020).…”

Kin and Non-Kin Connected Plants Benefit More Than Disconnected Kin and Non-Kin Plants under Nutrient-Competitive Environments

“…Belowground interaction among plants may affect aboveground biomass in nutrient-competitive environments. Limited nutrient availability influences plant biomass production [ 33 , 34 ]. Overall, we found that total dry mass and shoot dry mass were greater for the kin connected plants than non-kin connected plants ( Table 1 , Figure 1 ), and the differences were greater under high nutrients relative to low nutrients.…”

Genome‐material costs and functional trade‐offs in the autopolyploid Solidago gigantea (giant goldenrod) series

“…Specifically, we predicted that because photosynthesis and terpenes (a defensive compound within Solidago; Bohlmann et al, 1998;Bustamante et al, 2020;Ninkuu et al, 2021) both directly or indirectly (from precursor production) require N and P, that photosynthetic rates and terpene concentrations would be (1) higher under nutrient enrichments, (2) lower for larger GS cytotypes (due to material cost and photosynthesis/defense trade-offs), and (3) more similar among cytotypes under nutrient enrichments because larger GS cytotypes should be less constrained by material costs. (H5) Because stomatal density is negatively correlated with ploidy level in S. gigantea (Walczyk and Hersch-Green, 2022;Walczyk, 2022), larger GS cytotypes have lower transpiration rates and combined with how GS and nutrient availability influences photosynthesis (see H4) will also be more water-use efficient (able to assimilate more carbon from photosynthesis than water lost from transpiration) than smaller GS cytotypes, especially under nutrient-limiting conditions. (H6) Larger GS cytotypes are more nutrient-use efficient under nutrient limiting conditions, thereby minimizing increased material-cost constraints.…”