Abstract
Plants can respond to competition with a myriad of physiological or morphological changes. Competition has also been shown to affect the foraging decisions of plants belowground. However, a completely unexplored idea is that competition might also affect plants’ foraging for specific elements required to inhibit the growth of their competitors. In this study, we examined the effect of simulated competition on root foraging and accumulation of heavy metals in the metal hyperaccumulating perennial plant Arabidopsis halleri, whose metal accumulation has been shown to provide allelopathic ability. A. halleri plants originating from both metalliferous and non-metalliferous soils were grown in a “split-root” setup with one root in a high-metal pot and the other in a low-metal one. The plants were then assigned to either simulated light competition or no-competition (control) treatments, using vertical green or clear plastic filters, respectively. While simulated light competition did not induce greater root allocation into the high-metal pots, it did result in enhanced metal accumulation by A. halleri, particularly in the less metal-tolerant plants, originating from non-metalliferous soils. Interestingly, this accumulation response was particularly enhanced for zinc rather than cadmium. These results provide support to the idea that the accumulation of metals by hyperaccumulating plants can be facultative and change according to their demand following competition.
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Data accessibility statement
The source data for this manuscript will be deposited in the Dryad Digital Repository. The authors declare no competing financial interests. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.G.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Ute Krämer and Ricardo Stein for introducing us to the topic of metal hyperaccumulating plants, and to Mira Hoch, Bettina Springer and Anne Rysavy for the collection of A. halleri and soil in the field, the preparation of contaminated soil, and propagation of A. halleri in the greenhouse.
Funding
This study was funded by the SPP 1529 priority program ‘‘Adaptomics’’ grants of the German Research Foundation (DFG) to KT and MG (TI 338/ 10–1, and TI 338/10–2) and to SC (CL 152/9–2).
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AM, MG and KT conceived the project. AM, and MG designed the experiment. AM performed the experiments, data collection and statistical analyses. SC and MW performed the Cd analyses. AM wrote the manuscript draft with guidance from MG and all authors contributed to its revisions
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Communicated by Edith B. Allen.
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Mohiley, A., Tielbörger, K., Weber, M. et al. Competition for light induces metal accumulation in a metal hyperaccumulating plant. Oecologia 197, 157–165 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05001-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05001-x