A shift from phenol to silica-based leaf defences during long-term soil and ecosystem development

[en] The resource availability hypothesis predicts that plants adapted to infertile soils have high levels of anti-herbivore leaf defences. This hypothesis has been mostly explored for secondary metabolites such as phenolics, whereas it remains underexplored for silica-based defences. We determined leaf concentrations of total phenols and silicon (Si) in plants growing along the 2-million-year Jurien Bay chronosequence, exhibiting an extreme gradient of soil fertility. We found that nitrogen (N) limitation on young soils led to a greater expression of phenol-based defences, whereas old, phosphorus (P)-impoverished soils favoured silica-based defences. Both defence types were negatively correlated at the community and individual species level. Our results suggest a trade-off among these two leaf defence strategies based on the strength and type of nutrient limitation, thereby opening up new perspectives for the resource availability hypothesis and plant defence research. This study also highlights the importance of silica-based defences under low P supply. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Disciplines :

Environmental sciences & ecology

Author, co-author :

de Tombeur, Félix ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Echanges Eau - Sol - Plantes

Laliberté, E.; Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale, Université de Montréal, 4101 Sherbrooke Est, Montréal, QC H1X 2B2, Canada, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley (Perth)WA 6009, Australia

Lambers, H.; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley (Perth)WA 6009, Australia

Faucon, M.-P.; AGHYLE, SFR Condorcet FR CNRS 3417, UniLaSalle, 19 rue Pierre Waguet, Beauvais, 60026, France

Zemunik, G.; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley (Perth)WA 6009, Australia

Turner, B. L.; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Panama, Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, United States

Cornelis, Jean-Thomas ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Echanges Eau - Sol - Plantes

Mahy, Grégory ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Biodiversité et Paysage

Language :

English

Title :

A shift from phenol to silica-based leaf defences during long-term soil and ecosystem development

Publication date :

2021

Journal title :

Ecology Letters

ISSN :

1461-023X

eISSN :

1461-0248

Publisher :

Wiley, Oxford, United Kingdom

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

984-995

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 15 February 2022

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