| Research Articles |
|
|
|
|
| Ecophysiological aspects in 105 plants species of saline and arid environments in Tunisia |
| Abdallah ATIA1,2*, Mokded RABHI2, Ahmed DEBEZ2, Chedly ABDELLY2, Houda GOUIA1, Chiraz CHAFFEI HAOUARI1, Abderrazak SMAOUI2 |
1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Campus Universitaire El Manar I, Tunis 1060, Tunisia;
2 Laboratory of Extremophile Plants, Centre of Biotechnology of Borj-Cedria, Hammam-Lif 2050, Tunisia |
|
|
|
Abstract In Tunisian arid regions, plant life forms, ecotypes, physiological types and photosynthetic pathways (C3, C4 or CAM) remain unclear. Understanding the characters of these plant species could be important for land restoration. A literature survey was conducted for 105 species from arid regions of Tunisia. These plant species belong to several eco-types: halophytes, xerophytes, gypsophytes, psamophytes, xero-halophytes, gypso-halophytes, psamo-halophytes, psamo-xerophytes, xero-gypsophytes and hygro-halophytes. The variation of photosynthetic pathway types in the 105 studied species shows that 56.2% are C3, 41.0% are C4, 1.9% are CAM and 1.0% are C3-CAM. The C3 pathway is more abundant in the halophytes, whereas the C4 one is more common in the xerophytes, gypsophytes, gypso-halophytes and psamo-halophytes. The ratio of C3 to C4 species (C3/C4 ratio) is 0.2 in the psamo-halophytes, 0.8 in the gypso-halophytes, 1.1 in the xerophytes, 1.6 in the xero-halophytes, 1.8 in the hygrohalophytes, 2.0 in the psamophytes and 3.8 in the halophytes. The annuals are mainly C3 plants whereas most of perennials are C4 ones. The C3/C4 ratio is 1.3 in succulent species and 1.4 in non-succulent species. Thus, succulence seems not to affect the distribution of C3 and C4 pathways within the studied plants. This investigation shows high percentages of C4 plants in plants of Tunisian arid regions. However, there are significant differences in their abundance among ecotypes. Based on C3/C4 ratio, the abundance of the C4 pathway is in the following order: psamo-halophytes, gypso-halophytes, xerophytes, xero-halophytes, hy-grohalophytes, psamophytes, halophytes. In Tunisian arid regions, C4 species are most abundant in xerophytes and less abundant in halophytes. In the Chenopodiaceae the number of C3 plants is 13 and the number of C4 species is 20 and in the Poaceae the number of C3 was 23 and the number of C4 was 19 species. Thus, the most C4 proportion is in the Chenopodiaceae and Poaceae species. This confirms the fact that the Chenopodiaceae and the Poaceae were the leading families that tolerate salinity and aridity.
|
|
Received: 13 September 2013
Published: 10 December 2014
|
|
Corresponding Authors:
|
|
|
| Akhani H, Trimborn P, Ziegle H 1997. Photosynthetic pathways in Chenopodiaceae from Africa, Asia and Europe with their ecological, phytogeographical and taxonomical importance. Plant Systematic and Evolution, 206: 187–221.Alegro A, Biljakovic M, Bogdanovic S, et al. 2004. Psammo-halophytic vegetation on the largest sand area on the Croatian coast: the island of Mljet, southern Adriatic. Biologia, 59: 435–445.Atia A, Smaoui A, Barhoumi Z, et al. 2011. Differential response to salinity and water deficit stress in Polypogon monspeliensis (L.) Desf. provenances during germination. Plant Biology, 13: 541–545.Batanouny K H, Stichler W, Ziegler H. 1988. Photosynthetic pathways, distribution, and ecological characteristics of grass species in Egypt. Oecologia, 75: 539–548.Chaib M, Boukhris M. 1998. Flora Succinct and Illustrated of Arid Zones of Tunisia. The Association of Nature and Environment of sfax.. Tunisia: Gold Time.Collins R P, Jones M B. 1985. The influence of climatic factors on the distribution of C4 species in Europe. Vegetatio, 64: 11–129.Cuénad A, Pottier-Alapetite G, Labbe A. 1954. Vascular Cryptogams, Gymnosperms and Monocotyledons. Tunisia: Official Printing Office of the Republic the Tunisia.Downes R W. 1969. Differences in transpiration rates between tropical and temperate grasses under controlled conditions. Planta, 88: 261–273.Drake B G. 1989. Photosynthesis of salt marsh species. Aquatic Botany, 34: 167–180.Ehleringer J R, Cerling T E, Helliker B R. 1997. C4 photosynthesis, atmospheric CO2, and climate. Oecologia, 112: 285–299.Hafsi C, Romero-Puertas M C, Gupta D K, et al. 2010. Moderate salinity enhances the antioxidative response in the halophyte Hordeum maritimum L. under potassium deficiency. Environmental and Ex-perimental Botany, 69: 129–136.Herrera A. 2009. Crassulacean acid metabolism and fitness under water deficit stress: if not for carbon gain, what is facultative CAM good for? Annals of Botany, 103: 645–653.Khadhri A, Neffati M, Smiti S. 2013. Physiological response of Reaumuria vermiculata to salinity. Acta Botanica Gallica, 158: 291–301. doi:10.1080/12538078.2011.10516274.Koyro H W, Geibler N, Hussin S, et al. 2008. Survival at extreme locations: life strategies of halophytes–the long way from system ecology, whole plant physiology, cell biochemistry and molecular aspects back to sustainable utilization at field sites. In: Abdelly C, Ashraf M, Oztürk M. Biosaline Agriculture and Salinity Tolerance in Plants. Switzerland: Verlag, 241–246.Osborne C P, Freckleton R P. 2009. Ecological selection pressures for C4 photosynthesis in the grasses. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Se-ries B, 276: 1753–1760, doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.1762.Pottier-Alapetite G. 1979. Flora of Tunisia: Angiosperm-dicotyledonous Apetalous-dialipytalous.Tunisia: Official Printing Office of the Republic of Tunisia.Pottier-Alapetite G. 1981. Flora of Tunisia: Angiosperm-dicotyledonous gamopetalous. Tunisia: Official Printing Office of the Republic of Tunisia. Pyankov V I, Gunin P D, Tsoog S, et al. 2000. C4 plants in the vegetation of Mongolia: their natural occurrence and geographical distri-bution in relation to climate. Oecologia, 123: 15–31.Wang R Z. 2002. Photosynthetic pathways and life forms in different grassland types from North China. Photosynthetica, 40: 243–250.Wang R Z. 2004. Photosynthetic pathways and life form types for native plant species from Hulunbeier Rangelands, Inner Mongolia, North China. Photosynthetica, 42: 219–227.Wang R Z. 2005. C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways and life form types for native species from agroforestry region, Northeastern China. Photosynthetica, 43: 535–549.Wang R Z. 2007. δ13C values, photosynthetic pathways, and plant functional types for some plants from saline meadows, Northeastern China. Photosynthetica, 45: 18–22.Wang S, Wan C, Wang Y, et al. 2004. The characteristics of Na+, K+ and free proline distribution in several drought-resistant plants of the Alxa Desert, China Journal of Arid Environments, 56: 525–539.Warrick R, Gifford R, Parry M, 1986. Climate change and agriculture. In: Bolin B. The Greenhouse Effect, Climate Change and Ecosystems. New York: John Wiley, 393−473. Winter K. 1981. C4 Plants of high biomass in arid regions of Asia–Occurrence of C4 photosynthesis in chenopodiaceae and polygonaceae from the Middle East and USSR. Oecologia, 48: 100–106.Ziegler H, Batanouny K H, Sankhla N, et al. 1981. The photosynthetic pathway types of some desert plants from India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq. Oecologia, 48: 93–99. |
|
Viewed |
|
|
|
Full text
|
|
|
|
|
Abstract
|
|
|
|
|
Cited |
|
|
|
|
| |
Shared |
|
|
|
|
| |
Discussed |
|
|
|
|
