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Physiological and biochemical aspects of water deficits on Geum rivale L. and Geum urbanum L.

Ladley, Philip Desmond; (1990) Physiological and biochemical aspects of water deficits on Geum rivale L. and Geum urbanum L. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London). Green open access

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Abstract

This study has shown that Geum urbanum can outsurvive Geum rivale during periods of water deficits imposed in the laboratory and in a semi-field situation. Laboratory work showed that there was no interpopulation differences in tolerance to water deficits in Geum urbanum and Geum rivale. It was considered that the difference in drought tolerance between the two Geum species was large enough to influence their ecological distributions. It was found that the major difference contributing to the greater drought tolerance of Geum urbanum over Geum rivale was the formers ability to osmoregulate by accumulating solutes to higher levels than Geum rivale. The osmoregulatory process was then shown to be a three stage process in both species throughout PEG induced water stress. Of the solutes shown to increase in other species during water deficits the two Geum species only accumulated hexose and diose sugars and a variety of amino acids. However various phenolic compounds were also shown to accumulate during water deficits. This study also showed that both species could mobilise stored carbohydrate from mature leaves and increase storage of carbohydrate in young leaves, a previously unreported phenomenon. The primary production of amino acids was shown to be maintained in roots and leaves of both species during water stress. However it was considered that a different mechanism of nitrogen assimilation occurred during water stress in roots as opposed to leaves when compared to unstressed plants.

Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Qualification: Ph.D
Title: Physiological and biochemical aspects of water deficits on Geum rivale L. and Geum urbanum L.
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Language: English
Additional information: Thesis digitised by ProQuest.
Keywords: Biological sciences; Drought tolerance
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10124980
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