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The getting of
plant wisdom
British researchers have shown for the first time that mature leaves of a plant can pass on information about the level of light and carbon dioxide in their environment to developing leaves in the same plant. The youngsters respond by adjusting the number of stomata, or pores in the leaves. By placing mature and growing leaves in different levels of carbon dioxide and light, the team from the University of Sheffield showed that the anatomy of the young leaf matched the environment of the older leaves rather than its own. Stomatal numbers and density affect photosynthesis - the process by which a plant fixes carbon dioxide and water to make food. So the long-distance signalling helps the plant optimise its response to its environment. But a change in stomata can also influence the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the researchers report in today's issue of Nature. Up to 40 per cent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere passes through stomata every year. The scientists demonstrated the mechanism in the common laboratory plant, Arabidopsis thaliana but it most likely to occur in other plant species as well. If so, the effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels could be globally significant, and may need to be considered by scientists involved in the notoriously complex task of modelling climate change. More
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