The response of the stable oxygen isotope composition in desert plants to salt stress

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26450192
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Forest science
• Research Institution: Mie University
• Principal Investigator: MATSUO NAOKO 三重大学, 生物資源学研究科, 講師 (00423012)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 乾燥地植物 / 安定同位体比 / 塩回避 / 不定根 / 葉による露吸収 / 水利用効率 / 蒸散速度

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The salt tolerance of desert plants was assessed by using the stable isotope ratios to restore/conserve the arid ecosystems degraded by the salinization. We conducted the experiments that the 18O-labeled water was supplied to roots or leaves of a prostrate lifeform shrub originated from semiarid areas of China. The results suggested that desert plants could avoid or mitigate the high-salinity water in shallower soil layer and absorb the low-salinity dew on leaf surfaces. We also examined the relation between branch morphology and isotope ratios of leaf organic matter in a mangrove tree growing in per-arid areas on the Red Sea coast and found that the leaves of these trees enhanced intrinsic water-use efficiency in response to decreasing hydraulic conductivity of xylem by elongating branches. Our findings indicate that the stable isotope ratios of leaf organic matter and water are useful to assess the salt tolerance of desert plants.

Free Research Field

植物生理生態学