Grime J P, Crick J C, Rincon J E
Symp Soc Exp Biol. 1986;40:5-29.
Plastic responses of plants to environmental factors may be placed in an ecological context by regarding them as components of sets of traits which are predictably related to habitat stability and productivity. In ephemeral plants of temporary habitats plasticity is a major component of the mechanisms which tend to sustain reproduction when these plants are exposed to stress. When perennials of more stable habitats are subjected to stress the most frequently observed effect of plastic changes in allocation is to defer reproduction, a mechanism which appears to safeguard survival of the parent plant. It is suggested that plasticity is of vital importance in resource acquisition by plants. This hypothesis is supported by the results of experiments in which the roots and shoots of plants of contrasted ecology have been subjected to controlled patchiness in resource supply. We conclude that in plants of productive habitats high morphological plasticity is part of the foraging mechanisms which project new leaves and roots into the resource-rich zones of the constantly changing environmental mosaic created by the activity of competing plants. In long-lived plants of chronically unproductive habitats plasticity is expressed primarily through reversible physiological changes. These appear to maintain the viability and functional efficiency of leaves and roots over their long life spans and facilitate exploitation of the pulses of temporary and unpredictable resource supply which are characteristic of unproductive habitats.
通过将植物对环境因素的可塑性反应视为一系列性状的组成部分，这些性状可预测地与栖息地稳定性和生产力相关，从而将其置于生态背景中。在临时栖息地的一年生植物中，可塑性是这些植物在受到胁迫时维持繁殖的机制的主要组成部分。当更稳定栖息地的多年生植物受到胁迫时，分配方面可塑性变化最常观察到的影响是推迟繁殖，这一机制似乎是为了保障母株的生存。有人认为可塑性在植物获取资源方面至关重要。这一假设得到了实验结果的支持，在这些实验中，具有不同生态特征的植物的根和芽在资源供应上受到了可控的斑块状影响。我们得出结论，在生产力较高栖息地的植物中，高形态可塑性是觅食机制的一部分，该机制会将新叶和新根伸向由竞争植物活动形成的不断变化的环境镶嵌体中资源丰富的区域。在长期处于非生产性栖息地的长寿植物中，可塑性主要通过可逆的生理变化来体现。这些变化似乎在叶片和根系漫长的生命周期中维持其活力和功能效率，并有助于利用非生产性栖息地特有的短暂且不可预测的资源供应脉冲。
