Plant silicon: costs and benefits from two very different studies

Cooke, Julia; Carey, Joanna; Schoelynck, Jonas and De Block, Petra (2023). Plant silicon: costs and benefits from two very different studies. In: British Ecological Society Annual Meeting 2023, 6-15 Dec 2023, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Abstract

All plant species take up silicon (Si) and the best recognised benefits are associated with alleviation of biotic and abiotic stresses. Costs are poorly understood, but we present two new lines of evidence. Firstly, by quantifying Si accumulation in flowers across diverse taxa, we found that flowers mostly accumulate less Si than leaves, but high concentrations in grass inflorescences suggest differences in Si use across groups. High inflorescence Si in wind-pollinated species, but rarely in insect-pollinated species, offers an avenue to explore Si costs. Secondly, in a meta-analysis, we explored the conflicting relationships reported between plant Si availability and water uptake. Stress changes the role of Si availability in controlling water movement, with Si additions increasing water movement consistently in stressed plants. However, Si additions to unstressed plants reduced water movement in 50% of studies, which could indicate a cost.

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