Potential bud bank responses to apical meristem damage and environmental variables: matching or complementing axillary meristems?

ABSTRACT: Soil nutrients, dormant axillary meristem availability, and competition can influence plant tolerance to damage. However, the role of potential bud banks (adventitious meristems initiated only after injury) is not known. Examining Central European field populations of 22 species of short-lived monocarpic herbs exposed to various sources of damage, we hypothesized that: (1) with increasing injury severity, the number of axillary branches would decrease, due to axillary meristem limitation, whereas the number of adventitious shoots (typically induced by severe injury) would increase; (2) favorable environmental conditions would allow intact plants to branch more, resulting in stronger axillary meristem limitation than in unfavorable conditions; and (3) consequently, adventitious sprouting wo

SUBMITTER: Klimesova J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3916394 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature