Publication
Title
Is there silicon in flowers and what does it tell us?
Author
Abstract
The emergence of flowers marked an important development in plant evolution. Flowers in many species evolved to attract animal pollinators to increase fertilisation chances. In leaves, silicon (Si) discourages herbivores e.g. by wearing down mouthparts. Flowers are essentially modified leaves, and hence may also have capacity to accumulate Si. If Si in flowers discourages animal visitors as it does in leaves, Si accumulation may be disadvantageous for pollination. Whether flowers accumulate Si, and what the implications may be, was not known for many species. We analysed leaves and flowers of different taxa, separated into their different anatomical parts. Flowers mostly have low Si concentrations in all parts (mean  se of BSi in mg g-1 was 0.2160.044 in petals, 0.5850.238 in sepals, 0.1430.027 in stamens, 0.1520.042 in styles and stigmas, and 0.3740.188 in ovaries for a subset of 56 species). In most cases less Si was accumulated in flowers than leaves (mean  se of BSi in mg g-1 was 1.510.545 in whole flowers vs 2.970.566 in leaves in 104 species) though intriguing exceptions are found, with some species accumulating more Si in flowers than leaves. The large variation in concentration among flowers across the taxa examined, with particularly high concentration in grass inflorescences, tantalisingly suggests differences in the use of Si for flowers across plant groups. We conclude that the study of functions of Si for flowers warrants more attention, with pollination strategy a potential contributing factor.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Ecology and evolution. - Oxford, 2011, currens
Publication
Oxford : Wiley-Blackwell , 2023
ISSN
2045-7758
Volume/pages
13 :10 (2023) , p. 1-11
Article Reference
e10630
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Aquatic ecosystem functioning and global change.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Record
Identifier
Creation 18.10.2023
Last edited 19.10.2023
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