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Dr. ELIZABETH VAN VOLKENBURGH
University of Washington

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0 drought tolerance
0 Plant physiology
0 plant growth control
0 Plant behavior
0 Electrophysiology (plant cells)

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Scientific life
Published: 17 March 2021 in Trends in Plant Science
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Biology students need special incentive to learn plant physiology. Framing plant function as ‘behavior' analogous to animal neurobiology and behavior and integrating active learning methods is a successful way to generate an inclusive space for a wide range of learning styles, cultural backgrounds, and scientific contributions.

ACS Style

Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh; Kaaren Mirzaei; Yesenia Ybarra. Understanding Plant Behavior: A Student Perspective. Trends in Plant Science 2021, 26, 423 -425.

AMA Style

Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh, Kaaren Mirzaei, Yesenia Ybarra. Understanding Plant Behavior: A Student Perspective. Trends in Plant Science. 2021; 26 (5):423-425.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh; Kaaren Mirzaei; Yesenia Ybarra. 2021. "Understanding Plant Behavior: A Student Perspective." Trends in Plant Science 26, no. 5: 423-425.

Review
Published: 05 March 2021 in Plants
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Drought is a major limiter of yield in common bean, decreasing food security for those who rely on it as an important source of protein. While drought can have large impacts on yield by reducing photosynthesis and therefore resources availability, source strength is not a reliable indicator of yield. One reason resource availability does not always translate to yield in common bean is because of a trait inherited from wild ancestors. Wild common bean halts growth and seed filling under drought and awaits better conditions to resume its developmental program. This trait has been carried into domesticated lines, where it can result in strong losses of yield in plants already producing pods and seeds, especially since many domesticated lines were bred to have a determinate growth habit. This limits the plants ability to produce another flush of flowers, even if the first set is aborted. However, some bred lines are able to maintain higher yields under drought through maintaining growth and seed filling rates even under water limitations, unlike their wild predecessors. We believe that maintenance of sink strength underlies this ability, since plants which fill seeds under drought maintain growth of sinks generally, and growth of sinks correlates strongly with yield. Sink strength is determined by a tissue’s ability to acquire resources, which in turn relies on resource uptake and metabolism in that tissue. Lines which achieve higher yields maintain higher resource uptake rates into seeds and overall higher partitioning efficiencies of total biomass to yield. Drought limits metabolism and resource uptake through the signaling molecule abscisic acid (ABA) and its downstream affects. Perhaps lines which maintain higher sink strength and therefore higher yields do so through decreased sensitivity to or production of ABA.

ACS Style

Amber Hageman; Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh. Sink Strength Maintenance Underlies Drought Tolerance in Common Bean. Plants 2021, 10, 489 .

AMA Style

Amber Hageman, Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh. Sink Strength Maintenance Underlies Drought Tolerance in Common Bean. Plants. 2021; 10 (3):489.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Amber Hageman; Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh. 2021. "Sink Strength Maintenance Underlies Drought Tolerance in Common Bean." Plants 10, no. 3: 489.

Research article
Published: 01 January 2020 in Functional Plant Biology
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Although drought limits yield by decreasing photosynthesis and therefore biomass accumulation, biomass is not the strongest predictor of yield under drought in common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Instead, resource partitioning from pod walls into seeds is a stronger correlate. Our aim was to determine whether growth rates of developing leaflets and pods, as independent indicators of sink strength, predict resource partitioning into seeds. Using 20 field-grown genotypes, we paired biomass, yield, and resource partitioning data with leaflet and pod growth rates under well-watered and droughted conditions. We hypothesised that genotypes with faster growing leaflets and pods under drought would fill seeds better. However, we found that leaflet and pod growth rates did not predict partitioning to seeds; rather, sensitivity of leaflet growth rate to drought was a good predictor of yield reduction. Further, plants with rapidly growing leaves under well-watered conditions were most vulnerable to decreases in leaflet growth rate under drought. This suggests that lines that inherited a conservative growth strategy were better able to maintain yield by allocating resources to seeds. Our findings indicate that inherent sensitivity of leaflet growth rate to drought may be used as a predictor of partitioning and yield in common beans.

ACS Style

Amber N. Hageman; Milan O. Urban; Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh. Sensitivity of leaflet growth rate to drought predicts yield in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Functional Plant Biology 2020, 47, 792 .

AMA Style

Amber N. Hageman, Milan O. Urban, Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh. Sensitivity of leaflet growth rate to drought predicts yield in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Functional Plant Biology. 2020; 47 (9):792.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Amber N. Hageman; Milan O. Urban; Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh. 2020. "Sensitivity of leaflet growth rate to drought predicts yield in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)." Functional Plant Biology 47, no. 9: 792.

Preprint content
Published: 15 August 2019
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While drought limits yield largely by its impact on photosynthesis and therefore biomass accumulation, biomass is not the strongest predictor of yield under drought. Instead, resource partitioning efficiency, measured by how much total pod weight is contained in seeds at maturity (Pod Harvest Index), is the stronger correlate in Phaseolus vulgaris. Using 20 field-grown genotypes, we expanded on this finding by pairing yield and resource partitioning data with growth rates of leaflets and pods. We hypothesized that genotypes which decreased partitioning and yield most under drought would also have strongest decreases in growth rates. We found that while neither leaflet nor pod growth rates correlated with seed yield or partitioning, impacts to leaflet growth rates under drought correlate with impacts to yield and partitioning. As expected, biomass production correlated with yield, yet correlations between the decreases to these two traits under drought were even stronger. This suggests that while biomass contributes to yield, biomass sensitivity to drought is a stronger predictor. Lastly, under drought, genotypes may achieve similar canopy biomass yet different yields, which can be explained by higher or lower partitioning efficiencies. Our findings suggest that inherent sensitivity to drought may be used as a predictor of yield. HIGHLIGHT In common bean, higher biomass accumulation under drought alone does not guarantee higher yield, as maintenance of higher growth rates and partitioning processes act as an additional requirement.

ACS Style

Amber Hageman; Milan O. Urban; Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh. Drought sensitivity of leaflet growth, biomass accumulation, and resource partitioning predicts yield in common bean. 2019, 1 .

AMA Style

Amber Hageman, Milan O. Urban, Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh. Drought sensitivity of leaflet growth, biomass accumulation, and resource partitioning predicts yield in common bean. . 2019; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Amber Hageman; Milan O. Urban; Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh. 2019. "Drought sensitivity of leaflet growth, biomass accumulation, and resource partitioning predicts yield in common bean." , no. : 1.