Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
18.2
Diversity and Hierarchy of Plant Oscillators
18.2.1
Spatial and Temporary Hierarchy
Oscillations in the plant kingdom cover an extremely broad range of peri-
ods (Fig. 18.1) and occur at various levels of plant structural organisation.
Consequently, we are talking about
spatial
and
temporal
hierarchy of oscil-
lations in plants.
Spatial hierarchy
implies that oscillations are present at different levels
of plant structural organisation, from the molecular level to that for the
whole plant or even of plant ecosystem (Aschoff 1981). The physiologi-
cal significance of such spatial hierarchy is that the oscillating process in
one “compartment” is optimised for a certain range of conditions and is
not interfering with other “compartments”. A good example is stomata
patchiness and oscillations in leaf photosynthesis (Sect. 18.2.2.2).
Growth
Growth
Enzymatic activity; protein synthesis
Enzymatic activity; protein synthesis
ATP content
ATP content
Membrane transport
Protoplasmic movement
Leaf movement
Membrane transport
Protoplasmic movement
Leaf movement
Membrane electric activity
Membrane electric activity
Conformational changes in molecules
Conformational changes in molecules
Seed germination
Seed germination
10
-2
10
-2
10
-1
10
-1
10
0
10
0
10
1
10
1
10
2
10
2
10
3
10
3
10
4
10
4
10
5
10
5
10
6
10
6
10
7
10
7
10
8
10
8
Period of oscillations, sec
Period of oscillations, sec
1 sec
1 sec
1 min
1 min
1 h
1 h
1 d
1 d
1 mo nth
1 mo nth
1 year
1 year
Fig. 18.1.
Diversity and temporal hierarchy of plant oscillators
Search WWH ::
Custom Search