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These papers highlighted the high levels of Si in soils, its prominence in many plant families, but a lack of research on its functional roles by experimental plant biologists
Si research began to re-focus towards ecology in the 1980s, with the pioneering work of McNaughton and Tarrants demonstrating the inducibility of Si defences in response to herbivory (McNaughton 1985; McNaughton et al 1985)
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How to cite: Cooke, Julia; DeGabriel, Jane L. and Hartley, Susan E. (2016). The functional ecology of plant silicon: geoscience to genes. Silicon (Si) is widely recognized to benefit plants through protection against a range of biotic and abiotic stresses, including herbivory, pathogen attack and climatic fluctuations This recognition has been a long time in the making and, like many ecological histories, it links back to Darwin. Relatively less attention was given to the role of Si in ecology, despite some seminal papers predicting its importance (Sangster 1978; Iler 1979; Raven 1983; Parry et al 1984; Sangster & Hodson 1986; Takahashi, Ma & Miyake 1990; Epstein 1994, 1999) These papers highlighted the high levels of Si in soils, its prominence in many plant families, but a lack of research on its functional roles by experimental plant biologists. It is timely to take stock and draw together the latest research on plant Si and take advantage of emerging synergies between seemingly disparate fields, ranging from the molecular to the geological, to shape clear directions for future studies
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