Journal
NEW PHYTOLOGIST
Volume 205, Issue 1, Pages 350-360Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/nph.13006
Keywords
autotrophy; competition; ecophysiology; hemiparasite; heterotrophy; mixotrophy; Orobanchaceae; Rhinanthus
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Funding
- Czech Science Foundation [P505/12/1390]
- NERC [NE/E014070/1, NE/G524136/1]
- Royal Society University Research fellowship [UF090328]
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/E014070/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Root hemiparasites are green photosynthetic plants, which parasitically acquire resources from host xylem. Mineral nutrients and water, two principal below-ground abiotic resources, were assumed to affect the interaction between hemiparasites and their hosts. The shape of these effects and the underlying physiological mechanisms have, however, remained unclear. We conducted a glasshouse experiment with root-hemiparasitic Rhinanthus alectorolophus, in which we manipulated the availability of mineral nutrients and water. Biomass production and Chl fluorescence of the hemiparasites and hosts were recorded, together with proportion of host-derived carbon in hemiparasite biomass. The abiotic resources had profound interactive effects on the performance of both the hemiparasite and the hosts, as well as the balance of above-ground biomass between them. These effects were mainly based on an increase of growth and photosynthetic efficiency under high nutrient concentrations, on the hemiparasite's ability to induce strong water stress on the hosts if water is limiting, and on release of the host from parasitism by simultaneous abundance of both resources. Hemiparasitism is a highly variable interaction, in which environmental conditions affect both the parasitic and autotrophic (and thus competitive) components. A hemiparasite's own photosynthesis plays a crucial role in the assimilation of parasitized mineral resources and their transformation into growth and fitness.
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