Resource-use efficiency and environments in plants : from water to nutrients

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  • 植物の資源利用効率と環境要因 : 水と栄養に着目して
  • ショクブツ ノ シゲン リヨウ コウリツ ト カンキョウ ヨウイン : ミズ ト エイヨウ ニ チャクモク シテ
  • 熱帯泥炭湿地林の人為的攪乱とその回復可能性
  • ネッタイ デイタン シッチリン ノ ジンイテキ カクラン ト ソノ カイフク カノウセイ

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Abstract

Plants are adapted to use water and nutrients efficiently in environments where such resources are deficient. Typically, the way in which plants use nutrients and water for photosynthesis is illustrated using indices borrowed from economics: assimilates per nutrient used (nutrient-use efficiency, NUE) and assimilates per water lost (water-use efficiency, WUE). These are correlated with plant habitats, and ecological and physiological traits, such as foliar and wood morphology/anatomy, and can affect growth and reproduction. In nature, plants commonly face stressful environments that range from mild to severe, forming a stress gradient. Stress gradients include external factors like soil nutrients, precipitation, and altitude, but plants also face internal stress gradients through ontogeny, such as water stress arising from height growth. Therefore, plants develop various strategies to maximize resource-use efficiencies through morphological, anatomical, and physiological characteristics in response to both internal and external factors. Resource-use efficiencies are considered indices of adaptation to stressful environments. Here, we review the NUE (mainly for nitrogen and phosphorous) and WUE of plants in various ecosystems, and discuss ecological and physiological mechanisms that potentially increase these values.

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