Plant developmental responses

to the environment
 Introduction
• discipline of ecological developmental biology examines how
organisms broaden in response to environmental
conditions that adjust in nature.
 Developmental plasticity
• the capacity of a given genotype to produce different
phenotypes in different environmental conditions.
• E.g. whether adaptive, light
 Shade avoidance: the influence of
neighbours on plant development
• Shade avoidance is a set of responses that plants display
when they are subjected to the shade of another plant. It
often includes elongation, altered flowering time, increased
apical dominance and altered partitioning of resources.
 Adaptive developmental responses to
flooding
• low solubility and slow diffusion rate of gases in water
• plant tissues experience a critical shortage of oxygen
• This environmental challenge induces a suite of dramatic
developmental and physiological adjustments in many
wetland species
 Environmental cues and Response
mechanisms
• what is happening and how to respond.