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Tree ring growth is strictly bound to annual environmental conditions. Therefore, dendrochronology represents a solid tool for investigating the relationship between the whole plant growth and climate at high temporal resolution, especially in the context of ongoing climate change.The temperature increase in the Alpine and Arctic ecosystems has been proven to enhance shrub growth contributing to the Arctic/Alpine greening, while the effects of the interaction between temperature and other climatic variables (e.g. precipitation/snowfall regime) on the shrub growth have often been neglected.With the aim of parsing the relationships between the annual growth of Vaccinium myrtillus L., a key species in the Alpine tundra, temperature, precipitation, snowfall regime (i.e., in terms of temperature-based snowfall, known as snow water equivalent) and their interaction, we analyzed the xylem rings of 100 cross sections of underground bilberry stem, collected along a 500 meters altitude gradient above the tree line and corresponding over a period of 20 years (1995-2015). Furthermore, aiming at linking different ecological scales, we have adopted an ecological upscaling approach. With reference to the area and the period considered, we calculated NDVI using satellite images, and we studied the relationships between this vegetation index, climate, and the anatomical parameters.Our results showed that both number (i.e. ramet age) and mean width of the rings were negatively affected by altitude. The mean annual temperature and snowfall showed significant interaction effects on mean ring width and xylem mean lumen area. Cold years (i.e. low mean annual temperature) and abundant snowfall led to a reduction in the mean ring width, while the snowfall regime did not affect annual ring width in warm years. Xylem mean lumen area was affected by precipitation only in cold years. The mean growth season NDVI increased significantly in the time span considered and showed a positive relationship with the average age of the bilberry community. The interaction between rainfall and average temperature of the vegetative season influenced the NDVI: a negative relationship between vegetation index and rainfall was observed in cooler vegetative seasons, while the relationship was specular in the case of higher temperatures.These results suggest that future scenarios should not overlook the precipitation regime effect by virtue of its possible role in snowpack permanence and drought during the growth season. In this light the shrub expansion could also be curbed by the change of precipitation regime and the increased frequency of extreme climate events (e.g., shift of snowfall regime and intensification of heat waves). Moreover, our findings confirmed the potential use of the remote sensing tool for the understanding of the response of dwarf shrub communities to climate change also for long-term monitoring of these plant communities.

One of the major aftermaths of global warming is the ongoing global sea level rise, which is expected toseriously treat the worldwide coasts. Among coastal environments, saltmarshes are particularly sensitive tothe increase of flooding and frequency of storm surges. Indeed, although saltmarshes respond with asediment accretion and coastal niche shifting, sea rise rates and the coastal squeeze phenomenon jeopardizethe acclimation capacity of saltmarsh species and plant communities. For these reasons, monitoring andstudying the response of saltmarshes to flooding is crucial to understand the fate of these fragile ecosystems.For a comprehensive understanding of these processes, it is necessary to link different ecological scalesusing an ecological upscaling approach. We analyzed main traits of plant community and the growth of thekey species Salicornia fruticosa (L.) L. in 9 saltmarshes along the flooding gradient (Marano and Gradolagoon, northern Adriatic Sea). In particular, we considered community (i.e. species richness, dry biomass,dry matter content) and individual traits (i.e. shoot annual growth, dry biomass, dry matter content, plantheight) analyzing the effect of flooding. Simultaneously we carried out a UAV (Unnamed Aerial Vehicle)multispectral survey, in order to obtain remote sensing-derived vegetation indices (e.g. NDVI NormalizedDifference Vegetation Index) for the upscaling of plant responses. We found that the flooding gradientproduced a significant decrease of plant biomass and growth, affecting both plant traits and plant communityfeatures. We also found NDVI effective to predict flooding effect only on the dry biomass of the community.In contrast, flooding intensity shaped the relationship between NDVI and the individual plant growth. Inparticular, the annual growth was satisfactorily explained by NDVI in the areas less subjected to flooding,whereas lack of correlation between these two parameters was observed for sites frequently flooded. Ourfindings shed new light on the potential use of the remote sensing tool for the understanding of the responseof saltmarshes vegetation to the future increase of the sea level. Further attention should be paid to speciesmorphological traits and additional ecophysiological responses (e.g. secondary metabolites, soil redox status)in order to fully understand such crucial processes at the plant community scale

Senescence hallmarks in GSC and RSC. Measurement of total protein content and hexose concentration in GSC and RSC at day 0, just before liquid culture establishment. (DOCX 13 kb)

Senescence hallmarks in GSC and RSC. Measurement of total protein content and hexose concentration in GSC and RSC at day 0, just before liquid culture establishment. (DOCX 13 kb)

Grapevines store non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) during late summer to sustain plant development at the onset of the following spring’s growth. Starch is the main stored carbohydrate, found in the wood-ray parenchyma of roots and canes. Although the relationship between hydraulic and plant photosynthetic performance is well-recognized, little research has been done on the long-term effects of drought in grapevines adopting different strategies to cope with water stress (i.e. isohydric and anisohydric). We performed our study by exposing two different grape cultivars (Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon) to a short but severe drought stress, at two stages of the growing season (July and September). No marked differences in the physiological and hydraulic responses of the two varieties were found, probably due to our experimental conditions. However, anatomical and biochemical characterization of overwintering canes pointed out several interesting outcomes. We found a significant and parallel increase of starch and medullar ray number in both cultivars exposed to early water stress. We hypothesize that stressed vines limited their carbon allocation to growth, while shifting it to starch accumulation, with a most evident effect in the period of intense photosynthetic activity. We also speculate that a different aptitude to osmotic adjustment may underlay variation in starch increase and the specific involvement of bark NSC in the two cultivars.

Drought-induced tree decline is a complex event, and recent hypotheses suggest that hydraulic failure and carbon starvation are co-responsible for this process. We tested the possible role of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) content on post-drought hydraulic recovery, to verify the hypothesis that embolism reversal represents a mechanistic link between carbon starvation and stem hydraulics. Measurements were performed in laurel plants subjected to similar water stress levels either over short or long term, to induce comparable embolism levels. Plants subjected to mild and prolonged water shortage (S) showed reduced growth, adjustment of turgor loss point driven by changes in both osmotic potential at full turgor and bulk modulus of elasticity, a lower content of soluble NSC and a higher content of starch with respect to control (C) plants. Moreover, S plants showed a lower ability to recover from xylem embolism than C plants, even after irrigation. Our data suggest that plant carbon status might indirectly influence plant performance during and after drought via effects on xylem hydraulic functioning, supporting the view of a possible mechanistic link between the two processes.

In the present study, an antibody raised against a peptide sequence of rat bilitranslocase (anti-peptide Ab) was tested on microsomal proteins obtained from red grape berry skin. Previously, this antibody had demonstrated to recognize plant membrane proteins associated with flavonoid binding and transport. Immuno-proteomic assays identified a number of proteins reacting with this particular antibody, suggesting that the flavonoid binding and interaction may be extended not only to carriers of these molecules, but also to enzymes with very different functions. One of these proteins is a pathogenesis-related (PR) class IV chitinase, whose in vitro chitinolytic activity was modulated by two of the most representative flavonoids of grape, quercetin and catechin, as assessed by both spectrophotometric and fluorimetric assays in grape microsomes and commercial enzyme preparations. The effect of these flavonoids on the catalysis and its kinetic parameters was also evaluated, evidencing that they determine a hormetic dose-dependent response. These results highlight the importance of flavonoids not only as antioxidants or antimicrobial effectors, but also as modulators of plant growth and stress response. Implications of the present suggestion are here discussed in the light of environment and pesticide-reduction concerns.