Underground organs of non-arboreal savanna species are capable to store water and nutrients?

• Grant number: 17/11256-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2018
• End date: December 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Pant Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Davi Rodrigo Rossatto
• Grantee: Bianca Helena Porfírio da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The typical savanna vegetation of the Cerrado Biome are characterized by a high diversity of plants from diverse growth forms. Such species must cope with the natural occurrence of fire and water seasonality to persist under this environment. Most species are perennial, promptly sprouting after the fire passage, or in its absence, during the dry season. It is well known that non-arboreal species are capable to store carbohydrates in their underground organs, which allow their regrowth after fire passage. However, water is needed for the carbohydrate mobilization in the body of the plant. Nutrients are also required, as the aerial part, especially the leaves, needs significant amounts of macronutrients, such as nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus. This proposal aims to demonstrate if underground organs of non-arboreal savanna species are capable to store water and. In addition, it intends to test if there is a relationship between the foliar and underground organs nutrient concentrations. The results provided by this study will certainly bring important information about the ecophysiological strategies used by these plants in the water and nutrient storage. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PORFIRIO DA SILVA, BIANCA HELENA; ROSSATTO, DAVI RODRIGO. Are underground organs able to store water and nutrients? A study case in non-arboreal species from the Brazilian Cerrado. THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PLANT PHYSIOLOGY, v. 31, n. 3, p. 413-421, SEP 2019. (17/11256-7)