2022/09/12 by Douglas, Zoe, Javier, Sabina, Morales, Taylor +1
#chaparral #forest #morphological variation #phenotypic plasticity #poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)
paper · doi:10.21973/n3rd55
Plant plasticity, or the ability of a single genotype to produce many phenotypes, is an advantageous mechanism used by many plants to adapt and grow in various environments. Poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) is a plant that is found in a variety of habitats, such as woodlands, forests, chaparral, and riparian areas. It is known to demonstrate phenotypic plasticity throughout its range by changing the morphology of leaves and stems in response to the local environment. However, its macroscopic and microscopic morphological variation in response to various environmental stressors, such as water and light, has not been well studied. In this study we show that petiole length, leaf surface area, and xylem area differ across forest and chaparral habitats, which have different water and light availability. We found that leaves were larger and petioles were longer in the more shaded forest habitat compared to those in the more water stressed chaparral habitat. Xylem vessel area was also larger in the forest habitat compared to the chaparral habitat. Furthermore, no difference was found between the stomatal size or stomatal density across habitat types. Our results demonstrate that poison oak displays morphological variation at both microscopic and macroscopic levels. Our findings expand on knowledge of plasticity in plant morphology and how plants may be able to grow under different environmental conditions.