PJB-2026-1501
Microstructural and functional traits facilitate invasion of honey mesquite (Neltuma glandulosa (Torr.) Britton & Rose) in environmental heterogeneity
Zoya Nazish, Farooq Ahmad, Mansoor Hameed and Muhammad Ashfaq Wahid
Abstract
Species diversity in any ecosystem depends on the environmental heterogeneity. Plants respond to stresses in a heterogeneous environment through various structural and functional modifications for their establishment and invasiveness. Honey mesquite (Neltuma glandulosa (Torr.) Britton & Rose) is an invasive weed found in all types of habitats ranging from high mountains to deserts and its invasion success might be due to plasticity in structural and functional traits. Its populations were collected from eight geographically distinct sites of Punjab to evaluate structural and functional modifications in diverse environmental conditions. Significant variation was found in morphological traits, chlorophyll pigments, stress enzymes, organic osmolytes, antioxidants, ionic content, foliar and stem anatomical traits that show high adaptability potential of this species to different habitats. Populations collected from non-saline habitats showed better growth and development. Highest concentration of organic osmolytes, stress enzymes, antioxidants and vitamins was in population from hypersaline saltmarsh. Regarding anatomical traits thick epidermis and large parenchymatous cells were found in the sand dune desert population, a better strategy to protect water loss and to store sufficient amount of water in the stem. Stem sclerification was high in the hypersaline hyperarid population to tolerate environmental stresses. Hypersaline hyper-arid population had maximum stomatal density and decreased stomatal area that assist in lowering transpiration loss. The findings indicated that invasion and widespread of this species was due to plasticity in structural and functional traits. Physio-anatomical tools can play a key role in evaluating adaptive components, hence can be extremely useful to understanding mechanism of invasion in plant specues
To Cite this article:
Nazish, Z., F. Ahmad, M. Hameed and M.A. Wahid. 2026. Microstructural and functional traits facilitate invasion of honey mesquite (Neltuma glandulosa (Torr.) Britton & Rose) in environmental heterogeneity. Pak. J. Bot., 58(1): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2026-1(14)
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