| Title: | "Plant age at the time of ozone exposure affects flowering patterns, biotic interactions and reproduction of wild mustard" |
| Author(s): | Duque L; Poelman EH; Steffan-Dewenter I; |
| Address: | "Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Wurzburg, Wurzburg, Germany. laura.duque@uni-wuerzburg.de. Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Wurzburg, Wurzburg, Germany" |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-021-02878-9 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2045-2322 (Electronic) 2045-2322 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Exposure of plants to environmental stressors can modify their metabolism, interactions with other organisms and reproductive success. Tropospheric ozone is a source of plant stress. We investigated how an acute exposure to ozone at different times of plant development affects reproductive performance, as well as the flowering patterns and the interactions with pollinators and herbivores, of wild mustard plants. The number of open flowers was higher on plants exposed to ozone at earlier ages than on the respective controls, while plants exposed at later ages showed a tendency for decreased number of open flowers. The changes in the number of flowers provided a good explanation for the ozone-induced effects on reproductive performance and on pollinator visitation. Ozone exposure at earlier ages also led to either earlier or extended flowering periods. Moreover, ozone tended to increase herbivore abundance, with responses depending on herbivore taxa and the plant age at the time of ozone exposure. These results suggest that the effects of ozone exposure depend on the developmental stage of the plant, affecting the flowering patterns in different directions, with consequences for pollination and reproduction of annual crops and wild species" |
| Keywords: | Ecology Flowers/growth & development Germany Herbivory Mustard Plant/*physiology Ozone/*chemistry *Plant Physiological Phenomena Plants Pollen *Pollination Reproduction; |
| Notes: | "MedlineDuque, Laura Poelman, Erik H Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2021/12/08 Sci Rep. 2021 Dec 6; 11(1):23448. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-02878-9" |
