Effect of climate change on flower bud formation in Nidularium minutum Mez., an endangered endemic bromeliad

• Grant number: 22/07467-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2022
• End date: May 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Pant Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Catarina Carvalho Nievola
• Grantee: Beatriz Galassi Braga
• Host Institution: Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais (IPA). Secretaria de Meio Ambiente, Infraestrutura e Logística (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/50341-0 - Challenges for biodiversity conservation facing climate changes, pollution, land use and occupation (PDIp), AP.PDIP

Abstract

Climatic parameters monitored in recent decades in the forest remnants of the São Paulo Green Belt Biosphere Reserve (RBCV-SP) indicate the occurrence of higher temperatures and longer periods of drought. Studies are needed to assess the impact of these stressors on native plants in this region. The influence of these changes on growth and metabolism has been demonstrated in some species of Bromeliaceae, among them, Nidularium minutum, a native species of RBCV-SP. The establishment and/or maintenance of populations of native species depends on the successful formation of reproductive structures such as flower buds and the metabolism of aerial and root parts provides nutrients for the normal formation of flowers. The objective of this project is to evaluate the influence of temperature and water suspension on the development of flower buds, leaves, and roots of N. minutum plants kept under conditions that simulate a climate change scenario. About 50 adult individuals kept in a greenhouse and induced to synchronized flowering will be transferred to two growth chambers, one adjusted for the conditions of higher temperature, as foreseen by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), and the other regulated for the current thermal conditions. Only half of the plants in the two lots will be irrigated. The parameters evaluated will be flower bud size classes, plant biometry, relative water content, photosynthetic pigment analysis, and cell membrane damage, which may indicate N. minutum responses to environmental stress. (AU)