Microbial effects on plant phenology and fitness.

Plant development and the timing of developmental events (phenology) are tightly coupled with plant fitness. A variety of internal and external factors determine the timing and fitness consequences of these life-history transitions. Microbes interact with plants throughout their life history and impact host phenology. This review summarizes current mechanistic and theoretical knowledge surrounding microbe-driven changes in plant phenology. Overall, there are examples of microbes impacting every phenological transition. While most studies have focused on flowering time, microbial effects remain important for host survival and fitness across all phenological phases. Microbe-mediated changes in nutrient acquisition and phytohormone signaling can release plants from stressful conditions and alter plant stress responses inducing shifts in developmental events. The frequency and direction of phenological effects appear to be partly determined by the lifestyle and the underlying nature of a plant-microbe interaction (i.e., mutualistic or pathogenic), in addition to the taxonomic group of the microbe (fungi vs. bacteria). Finally, we highlight biases, gaps in knowledge, and future directions. This biotic source of plasticity for plant adaptation will serve an important role in sustaining plant biodiversity and managing agriculture under the pressures of climate change.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  American-Eurasian journal of botany

• Publication date

  2021-02-26

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.32942/osf.io/exadgPMID 34655479
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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