Abstract

CAMARGO PARRA, ANDRÉS ALEJANDRO  and  RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ, NELSON. Phenothypical Responses of Lippiaalbaand Lippiaoriganoides(Verbenaceae) to Water Availability in the Soil. Acta biol.Colomb. [online]. 2008, vol.13, n.3, pp.131-146. ISSN 0120-548X.

The capacity of genotype to produced different phenotypes is denominated Phenotypic Plasticity (PP). The present study evaluates the PP during the vegetative ontogeny in two species of the family Verbenaceae, Lippia alba which occurs in favorable habitats and L. origanoides which occurs in unfavorable habitats. We compare the PP and its ecological distribution, in response to availability of water in the soil. Forty plants were distributed randomly into three different treatments which had different availabilities of water in the soil. The results indicate a poor association between the PP and the ecological breadth. L. alba presents a high PP in the early stage of the ontogeny demonstrating that it does not exist uniformity in the PP through the vegetative ontogeny, the wide ecological distribution in this specie is explained for a higher allocation of mass in the component the relative growth rate RGR, because this might be an advantage for reaching sexual maturity faster and colonized new favorable habitats. Contrary to our hypothesis of work L. origanoides shows a PP, during the vegetative ontogeny and probably are associated to some mechanisms of tolerance to stress that allow a lower rate in the RGR in unfavorable habitats.

Keywords : Phenotypic Plasticity; ecological distribution; ontogeny; water; Lippia sp.

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