1. Environmental changes, for example, in rainfall and land use, lead to changes in the environment experienced by subsequent generations of plant species. Environmental conditions of maternal plants can influence the fitness and phenotypes of subsequent generations via non-genetic mechanisms: transgenerational plasticity (TGP). However, relevant empirical evidence remains scarce and ambiguous. What are the adaptive consequences of TGP for plants in the face of environmental change? For how many generations does the TGP effect remain?
2. We tried to answer these questions by measuring life-history traits and reproductive characteristics of progeny plants of the diaspore-heteromorphic annual halophyte Atriplex centralasiatica in a 3-year TGP experiment covering F0, F1 and F2 and partly F3. Plants from diaspore types A (low dispersal and high germination ability) and C (high dispersal and low germination ability) were grown in favourable versus stressful salinities over three generations in a fully factorial design.
3. Transgenerational plasticity of plants grown in favourable versus stressful salinities decreased from F2 → F1 → F0. Compared to the favourable condition, the stressful condition decreased the length of the vegetative period, increased the length of reproductive time, reproductive allocation and progeny diaspore size. Salinity tolerance and phenotypic plasticity were higher in plants from diaspore A than in those from diaspore C. In the stressful condition, plants produced less plant biomass, larger diaspores, a higher proportion of diaspore C, but lower proportion of diaspore A. Production of the proportion of diaspore C increased with increase in number of previous generations that experienced stress. The stress experience of the great-great grandmother (F0) continued into the lower A:C ratio of the F3 diaspores.
4. Synthesis. Our findings provide evidence for the ‘escape strategy’ of A. centralasiatica: TGP could spread the risk of environmental adversity by delaying seed germination temporally and broadening seed dispersal spatially, thus allowing plants to cope with environmental heterogeneity. Specifically, the trade-off in reproductive allocation between diaspores A and C enables plants to develop divergent strategies. New research should reveal the extent to which wide-ranging taxa can benefit from TGP and whether even (great)-great grandmother might be the starting point of TGP.

中文翻译：

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伟大的祖母仍然从坟墓中统治：植物性能和种子功能性状对盐胁迫的表型反应影响多代盐生植物

1. 环境变化，例如降雨和土地利用，会导致后代植物物种经历的环境变化。母本植物的环境条件可以通过非遗传机制影响后代的适应性和表型：跨代可塑性（TGP）。然而，相关的经验证据仍然稀缺且模棱两可。面对环境变化，TGP 对植物的适应性后果是什么？TGP 效应会持续多少代？
2. 我们试图通过在一项涵盖 F0、F1 和 F2 以及部分 F3 的为期 3 年的 TGP 实验中测量水铝石异形一年生盐生植物Atriplex centralasiatica的后代植物的生活史特征和生殖特征来回答这些问题。在全因子设计中，来自水铝石 A 型（低分散性和高发芽能力）和 C（高分散性和低发芽能力）的植物在三代的有利盐度和压力盐度下生长。
3. 在有利盐度和胁迫盐度下生长的植物的跨代可塑性从 F2 → F1 → F0 下降。与有利条件相比，胁迫条件减少了营养期的长度，增加了生殖时间的长度、生殖分配和后代水铝孢子的大小。水铝石 A 的植物耐盐性和表型可塑性高于水铝石 C 的植物。在胁迫条件下，植物产生的植物生物量较少，水铝石较大，水铝石 C 的比例较高，但水铝石 A 的比例较低。水铝石 C 的比例随着经历压力的前几代数量的增加而增加。曾曾祖母 (F0) 的压力经历持续到 F3 水铝石的较低 A:C 比率。
4. 合成。我们的研究结果为A. centralasiatica的“逃生策略”提供了证据：TGP 可以通过在时间上延迟种子萌发和在空间上扩大种子传播来分散环境逆境的风险，从而使植物能够应对环境异质性。具体而言，水铝石 A 和 C 之间的生殖分配权衡使植物能够制定不同的策略。新的研究应该揭示广泛的分类群可以从 TGP 中受益的程度，以及甚至（曾）曾祖母是否可能是 TGP 的起点。