Direct and Maternal Effects of Elevated CO₂ on Early Root Growth of Germinating Arabidopsis thaliana Seedlings

Individuals of Arabidopsis thaliana, collected in different natural populations, were grown in controlled and elevated CO₂ in a glasshouse. Following germination, root growth of progeny of different lines of these populations was studied in control and elevated atmospheric CO₂. No significant direct...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnals of botany Vol. 81; no. 3; pp. 405 - 411
Main Authors ANDALO, CHRISTOPHE, RAQUIN, CHRISTIAN, MACHON, NATHALIE, GODELLE, BERNARD, MOUSSEAU, MARIANNE
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Academic Press Limited 01.03.1998
Subjects
Atmospherics
Genetic variation
Germination
Nitrogen
Plant roots
Plants
Population growth
Root growth
Seedlings
Seeds
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Individuals of Arabidopsis thaliana, collected in different natural populations, were grown in controlled and elevated CO₂ in a glasshouse. Following germination, root growth of progeny of different lines of these populations was studied in control and elevated atmospheric CO₂. No significant direct effect of atmospheric CO₂ concentration could be demonstrated on root growth. An important parental effect was apparent, namely that root length and branching were decreased in seeds collected from a mother plant which had been grown in elevated CO₂. This was correlated with smaller seeds, containing less nitrogen. These parental effects were genetically variable. We conclude that CO₂ may affect plant fitness via parental effects on seed size and early root growth and that the genetic variability shown in our study demonstrates that Arabidopsis populations will evolve in the face of this new selective pressure.
ISSN:0305-7364
1095-8290
DOI:10.1006/anbo.1997.0574