Ozone Exposure of a Weed Community Produces Adaptive Changes in Seed Populations of Spergula arvensis

Tropospheric ozone is one of the major drivers of global change. This stress factor alters plant growth and development. Ozone could act as a selection pressure on species communities composition, but also on population genetic background, thus affecting life history traits. Our objective was to evaluate the consequences of prolonged ozone exposure of a weed community on phenotypic traits of Spergula arvensis linked to persistence. Specifically, we predicted that the selection pressure exerted by high ozone concentrations as well as the concomitant changes in the weed community would drive population adaptive changes which will be reflected on seed germination, dormancy and longevity. In order to test seed viability and dormancy level, we conducted germination experiments for which we used seeds produced by S. arvensis plants grown within a weed community exposed to three ozone treatments during four years (0, 90 and 120 ppb). We also performed a soil seed bank experiment to test seed longevity with seeds coming from both the four-year ozone exposure experiment and from a short-term treatment conducted at ambient and added ozone concentrations. We found that prolonged ozone exposure produced changes in seed germination, dormancy and longevity, resulting in three S. arvensis populations. Seeds from the 90 ppb ozone selection treatment had the highest level of germination when stored at 75% RH and 25 °C and then scarified. These seeds showed the lowest dormancy level when being subjected to 5 ºC/5% RH and 25 ºC/75% followed by 5% RH storage conditions. Furthermore, ozone exposure increased seed persistence in the soil through a maternal effect. Given that tropospheric ozone is an important pollutant in rural areas, changes in seed traits due to ozone exposure could increase weed persistence in fields, thus affecting weed-crop interactions, which could ultimately reduce crop production.Fil: Landesmann, Jennifer Brenda. Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnol.conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Invest.en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente;Fil: Gundel, Pedro Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto D/inv.fisiologicas y Eco.vinculadas A L/agric;Fil: Martinez Ghersa, M. Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto D/inv.fisiologicas y Eco.vinculadas A L/agric;Fil: Ghersa, Claudio Marco. Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto D/inv.fisiologicas y Eco.vinculadas A L/agric

Assessing the impacts of intra-and interspecific competition between Triticum aestivum and Trifolium repens on the species’ responses to ozone

Tropospheric ozone is considered to be the most phytotoxic air pollutant because of its oxidizing power. The main objective of this study was to analyze the effect of intra-and interspecific competition between Triticum aestivum L. and Trifolium repens L. on the responses to high concentrations of ozone of both species, and the role of the symbiotic relationship Rhizobium – T. repens on the abovementioned responses. Monocultures and mixtures of both species in different densities were sown. Pots were transferred to open top chambers either with 90–120 ppb ozone or without ozone. Ozone had an overall negative impact on leaf area and biomass production per individual plant. These responses were dependent on species and sowing density in monocultures, but were not changed by species proportion in the mixtures. There was a positive relationship between Rhizobium nodules and plant biomass, with a tendency for smaller plants to present lower number of nodules under ozone. These results suggest that competitive and mutualistic interactions could have a greater role in determining responses to novel air pollutants than species sensitivity to the xenobiotic, per se.Fil: Menéndez, Analía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Gundel, Pedro Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Lores, Laura M.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Martinez-Ghersa, Maria Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; Argentin

Aphid and episodic O3 injury in arugula plants (Eruca sativa Mill) grown in open-top field chambers

Aphid attacks and tropospheric ozone (O3) cause stress and considerable damage in both wild and cultivated plants. Induced defense responses to aphid attacks and O3 exposure share signaling pathways with common points. We investigated the plant-aphid interaction under O3 exposure using open-top O3 chambers. Ozone leaf injury was lower in aphid-infested plants than in aphid-free plants, although herbivore damage was not evident. Aphid population growth was strongly affected by previous exposure to O3 but no direct effect of O3 was observed. The possibility that during O3 episodes, herbivores may reduce O3 damage on host plants and that the offspring of the exposed aphids have lower population growth rates opens new and intriguing questions about potential effects of future increased tropospheric O3 levels on plant-insect interactions. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fil: Menéndez, Analía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Ana María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Folcia, A. M.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Martinez-Ghersa, Maria Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; Argentin

Tolerance to ozone might impose restrictions to plant disease management in tomato

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is considered a major air pollutant having negative effects on plant growth and productivity. Background concentrations are expected to rise in several regions of the world in the next 50 years, affecting plant responses to diseases, thus requiring new management strategies for food production. The effects of elevated O3 on the severity of a bacterial disease, and the effectiveness of a chemical defence inducer, were examined in two cultivars of tomato, Roma and Moneymaker, which present different tolerance to this pollutant. The two cultivars differ in their ability to produce and accumulate reactive oxygen species (ROS) in leaf tissues. Tomato plants were challenged with a strain of Xanthomonas vesicatoria, Xv9, which is pathogenic on tomato. Ozone consistently increased severity of the disease by over 40% in both cultivars. In the more tolerant cultivar, O3 pollution increased disease intensity, even after applying a commercially available product to enhance resistance (acibenzolar-S-methyl, BTH). In the more susceptible cultivar, level of disease attained depended on the oxidative balance that resulted from other stress factors. The antioxidant capacity of the plant at the time of infection was relevant for controlling development of the disease. Our results suggest that development of O3 tolerance in commercial crops might impose a penalty cost in terms of disease management under projected higher O3 concentrations.Fil: Romero, Ana M.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Menéndez, A. I.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Folcia, Ana María. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Martinez-Ghersa, Maria Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentin

Impact of plant and aphid stress history on infestation in arugula plants

Plants can activate inducible defence mechanisms against pests, pathogens, or chemical elicitors, such as ozone, mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS), particularly hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). An unfavourable balance between ROS production and the plant antioxidant capacity seems to be responsible for the resulting susceptibility of the plant to insect attack. Arugula plants [Eruca sativa Mill. (Brassicaceae)] and green peach aphids, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), were used in this study to test the hypothesis that the growth of an aphid population depends on both plant and insect stress history. We investigated the impact of density and duration of a previous aphid infestation, and the time lag before re-infestation, on aphid population growth. In a second experiment, we assessed the effect on aphid population growth of previous ozone exposure of arugula plants in open top chambers receiving a continuous O3 fumigation of 100–120 p.p.b., 90 min per day during 3 days. A third experiment was conducted to study the effect of aphid density during a previous infestation on the population growth on an uninfested host. Both previous herbivory and ozone changed the oxidative status of plant tissues and facilitated aphid population growth, which increased with the duration and density of a previous infestation by aphids. Colonization success also depended on the aphids' own history. Aphids coming from high-density populations and/or longer infestation periods produced larger populations on an (initially) uninfested plant. Pest outbreaks in a polluted environment might be expected to be modulated by the hosts' spatial-temporal heterogeneity related to the ozone exposure and previous herbivory.Fil: Menéndez, A. I.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; ArgentinaFil: Folcia, A. M.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Vegetal. Cátedra de Produccion Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Vizgarra, L.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Vegetal. Cátedra de Produccion Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Ana María. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Vegetal. Cátedra de Produccion Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Martinez-Ghersa, Maria Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente; Argentin