Abstract
ABSTRACT Cenostigma pyramidale, a pioneer species presents in all different successional stage (early, intermediate and late) of fifteen natural regeneration areas of Caatinga after land used changed and abandonment was used to investigates the morphological and physiological attributes that are very important to xeromorphic conditions as against herbivories. Leaf samples were collected to evaluate the percentage of the herbivory and index of sclerophylly. Anatomy, histochemistry, total phenolic content, epicuticular wax load, and n-alkanes profile were also performed. The results showed an inverse relationship between the percentage of herbivory and the index of sclerophylly. The leaves showed typical morphological and anatomical characteristics of xeric environments plants such as uniseriate epidermis and trichomes. Furthermore, it was also noticed a decrease in the overall thickness and the tissues according to the advancement of the successional stages. The histochemical revealed the presence of lipidic substances coating the epidermal layers, phenolics compounds stored in secretory structures, and starch in the mesophyll. The concentration of phenolics compounds indicating the difference from health leaves of plants between different stages of regeneration, but no difference when they were herbivored. The amount of cuticle wax did not change significantly with the successional stage. The profile of n-alkanes was characterized by the predominance of nonacosane (C29) and hentriacontane (C31). The C29 content decreases with the advancement of the successional stage, while the C31 content increases. All those attributes have a role to protect the plants to acclimate to the various environmental conditions of Caatinga.
Highlights
Plants represent the main source of energy and nutrients for herbivores, but unlike their natural enemies, they are not able to move
The study was conducted in February and April during 2012 and 2013, in a chronosequence of three successional stages of a seasonally tropical dry forest (STDF), the Caatinga, in a Tamanduá farm (06°59′13′′ to 07°00′14′′secretory structure (Ss) and 37°18′08′′ to 37°20′ 38′′W, 240 m above sea level) with 3,073 ha located in the Santa Terezinha municipality, Paraíba, Brazil
The percentage of herbivory was similar for all samples, with no significant difference between the averages observed for each succession stage studied (Figure 1)
Summary
Plants represent the main source of energy and nutrients for herbivores, but unlike their natural enemies, they are not able to move. Physiological, biochemical, and morphological attributes play an important role in abiotic and biotic responses to environmental conditions These physical and/or chemical attributes could be constitutive or inductive and produce or increase production when necessary (HEIL, 2010; SANTOS et al, 2014; FALCÃO et al, 2015; 2017). The ability of plants to alter their characteristics in response to changing environmental conditions is termed phenotypic plasticity, and it appears as morphological and/or physiological change (GRATANI, 2014; FALCÃO et al, 2015) These changes may occur in leaf size and shape, trichome count, quantitative and qualitative aspects of secondary compounds, photosynthetic capacity, growth rates, and nutrient allocation (HEIL, 2010). The increase in land-use changes results in areas of natural regeneration with different successional stages under different abiotic (air and soil humidity, temperature, soil nutrients available, and physical and chemical soil characteristics) and biotic (competition, herbivory, exotic species, loss of native species) conditions (SANTOS et al, 2011; SANTOS et al, 2014). We expected that leaves subjected to herbivory will present increased chemical and physical defenses compared to healthy leaves, independent of the successional stage
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