Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 2.
Cyperus conglomeratus
has high root / top ratio.
plants can conserve water by closing stomata during the day to avoid water loss, and
open them during the night for CO
2
fixation [32]. The flora of Qatar includes many
succulent plants some of which exhibit CAM characteristics. The following species have
been recognized as CAM plants:
Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum
,
Cyperus conglomeratus
,
Euphorbia
granulate, Erodium laciniatum, Portulaca oleracea
and may be many others; these
plants seem to have high water use efficiency associated with metabolic pathways that
enable them to survive such environmental conditions [33, 34]. Some CAM criteria like
diurnal oscillation of titratable acidity, malic acid content and succulence have been
studied in three native plants of the flora of Qatar like
Salsola baryosma
,
Anabasis setifera,
and
Tetraena qatarense.
It was concluded that
A
.
setifera
is a constitutive CAM plant
while
S. baryosma and T. qatarense
are inducible CAM plants [35]. The study of Mazen
[36] on
Portulaca oleracea
(C
4
plant) may show two different behaviors concerning CAM
characteristics, these are CAM-expressing and non CAM-expressing, and the induction
of CAM-like characteristics in this plant was accompanied by increased activity and
synthesis of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC).
Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum
,
the slender ice plant, is a succulent annual that is native to southern Africa, and
introduced to many parts of the world. It favors saline and degraded soils of the
agricultural regions, and it has the ability to switch from C
3
photosynthesis to CAM
model during its growth [37].
Oligomeris linifolia
, on the other hand, is not a CAM plant
