Plasticity and adaptation in the multigenerational plant response to rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations

Abstract

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations ([CO₂]) will expose extant plant species to novel [CO₂] on a global scale. In studies of plant acclimation and adaptation to elevated [CO2] diverse acclimatory phenotypes have been observed. Further investigation of gene expression profiles has begun to elucidate changes in expression that drive observed phenotypic changes. Although multigenerational studies of plant responses to elevated [CO2] suggest that plants do adapt to these conditions, evidence of causative changes to the underlying genetic sequence is limited and controversial.

Naturally occurring CO2 springs provide a resource to study the contribution of plasticity, indirect and direct genetic effects to the multigenerational responses to elevated [CO2]. Previously popular to study plant physiology in elevated [CO2], these sites can be revisited using new genetic and epigenetic technologies to answer fundamental questions about the multigenerational response of plants to elevated [CO2]. Chapter two of this work synthesises available phenotypic data from plants at natural CO2 springs to provide an overview of broad-scale trends in the multigenerational elevated [CO2] response. Experimental Chapters three and four utilise Plantago lanceolata L. at a natural CO2 spring to examine mechanisms facilitating the multigenerational plant response to elevated [CO2]. In Chapter three the contribution of parental and grandparental effects is examined through statistical analysis of a multigenerational experiment. Chapter four provides novel insight into the role of methylation and genetic sequence change in the multigenerational response of plants to elevated [CO2] using High Throughput Sequencing technologies. These analyses are valuable in their contribution to understanding how plants respond to elevated [CO2] over multiple generations, with critical impact to the prediction of plant response to climate change.

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