Neighbor-detection causes shifts in allocation across multiple organs to prepare plants for light competition

Abstract

To maximize their fitness, plants have to adjust their allocation strategy according to their abiotic and biotic environments. Plants can use the ratio of red to far-red light (R:FR) to sense neighbors, allowing them to modify their growth in response to aboveground competition.

In this study, we used supplemental FR light to artificially lower the R:FR of the lower leaves of common sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) to examine how plants change their growth in response to the threat of neighbors. We combined this treatment with a nitrogen fertilization treatment to investigate how responses to neighbor-detection interact with nitrogen limitation.

Plants grown in low R:FR increased in height at the expense of root growth, resulting in nitrogen limitation that restricted leaf growth. However, we found that plants reduced their nitrogen investment into leaves in low R:FR. By weakening the nitrogen sink strength of these lower leaves before they experienced low photosynthetically active radiation, plants were able to preemptively allocate nitrogen to leaves higher in the canopy.

Plants responded to the perception of neighbors by simultaneously diverting resources from root growth to stem elongation and from leaves threatened by neighbors to leaves that would pose a threat to neighbors. This whole-plant response to neighbor-detection enables plants to change their allocation in a way that simultaneously manages their limited nitrogen and prepares them for future light competition.