Vellozioid roots allow for habitat specialization among rock- and soil-dwelling Velloziaceae in campos rupestres

Autor(es)

Abrahao, Anna ^{[1, 2, 3, 4]} ; Costa, Patricia de Britto ^{[1, 2]} ; Teodoro, Grazielle S. ^[5] ; Lambers, Hans ^[2] ; Nascimento, Diego L. ^[6] ; Lopez de Andrade, Sara Adrian ^[1] ; Ryan, Megan H. ^[7] ; Oliveira, Rafael Silva ^{[1, 2]}

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Inst Biol, Dept Biol Vegetal, Campinas - Brazil

^[2] Univ Western Australia, Sch Biol Sci, Crawley Perth, WA - Australia

^[3] Univ Hohenheim, Inst Soil Sci & Land Evaluat, Stuttgart - Germany

^[4] Univ Hohenheim, Inst Bodenkunde & Standortslehre 310, Fachgebiet Bodenbiol, Emil Wolff Str 27, D-70599 Stuttgart - Germany

^[5] Univ Fed Para, Inst Biol, Belem, Para - Brazil

^[6] Univ Estadual Campinas, Geosci Inst, Campinas - Brazil

^[7] Univ Western Australia, Sch Agr & Environm, Crawley Perth, WA - Australia

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY; DEC 2019.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Plant growth on harsh substrates (habitat specialization) requires specific traits to cope with stressful conditions. We tested whether traits related to nutrient acquisition (root colonization by fungal symbionts, and plant morphological and physiological specializations), and nutrient use (leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations and N- and P-remobilization efficiency), were related to habitat specialization for 27 species of Velloziaceae growing either in soil or on rocks in extremely P-impoverished campos rupestres habitats. If habitat specialization were to drive trait sorting, then we expect traits to differ between those substrates. Both soil and rock-dwelling species presented a very low proportion of root length colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizal and dark-septate fungi. However, rhizosheaths were only observed in soil-dwelling species, and vellozioid roots, a specialization that allows for mining P and dissolving quartzite rock, were mostly found in rock-dwelling species. We did not observe differences in nutrient-use traits between rock- and soil-dwelling species. Root specializations are strongly correlated with microhabitats, and the presence of vellozioid roots seems to mediate bare rock specialization. There is an overall P limitation of plant productivity both on rock and in soil of campos rupestres, which does not drive the sorting of traits related to above-ground nutrient use and symbiotic P acquisition. Therefore, nutrient impoverishment is indeed a very strong environmental filter in campos rupestres as a whole, but habitat specialization plays an important role in the spatial distribution of Velloziaceae between contrasting substrates. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 10/17204-0 - Mudanças climáticas em montanhas brasileiras: respostas funcionais de plantas nativas de campos rupestres e campos de altitude a secas extremas
• Beneficiário: Rafael Silva Oliveira
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular